Language disorders in children are one of the most common causes of their difficulties with communication, social interaction and learning. Learning a language is generally a structured process but not all children develop all linguistic abilities in the same way or at the same pace. The ability to learn a language is considered an inherent human ability but children with a language disorder have difficulty understanding what they hear or read. They also face challenges when expressing themselves.

This childhood development course examines different forms of child language disorders and describes the timeline for normal language development in children. We first identify the five components of language and the types of child language disorders. We then study the causes and symptoms of language disorders in children. We go through the structured process that drives normal language development from the prelinguistic period to the preschool and early school years. Similarly, we investigate specific language disorders such as pragmatic language disorder and morphosyntactic, phonological and semantic deficits.

The following section examines different types of language impairment that can result from brain damage after birth. We cover subjects like acquired childhood aphasia, preschool language disorder, autism spectrum disorder and other acquired childhood language disorders. We then discuss the causes and effects of Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Williams syndrome, learning disabilities and communication disorders. Finally, we present seven-step guidelines for helping children with language difficulties to achieve success in their academic studies. Sign up for this child psychology course to study how language disorders can disrupt childhood development and learn how to help them overcome such difficulties.