What Specific Language Impairment is and not is · 4. November 2011
If a child just reacts with ”yes”, when you ask if he can pick up his coat, he maybe not intends to be rude. Maybe he understands the request literally as a question and doesn’t hear the request for action. Maybe the child suffers from Specific or primary language impairments.
Nicola Botting, adjunct professor at Department of Communication and Psychology and reader at City University London, has conducted research in specific language impairments (SLI) for 15 years. Even if the research has been going on for several years, it is still a relatively new research area in Denmark
In her inaugural lecture Nicola Botting went through a definition of what language difficulties is and not is and the different types of language difficulties a child can have. Characteristic for language difficulties is, that it is a handicap, that primary effects the communication. Language causes troubles to the child without obvious explanations such as impaired hearing or sustained brain injury. Furthermore it is a neurological disorder with underlying cognitive dysfunctions. Botting went through the following types of language difficulties:
- Speech sounds (phonology), e.g. articulation or failing to perceive differences (wunning for running)
- Words (lexicon/morphology), e.g. trouble finding the right word or endings of words (I wanted two ball)
- Grammar (syntax) and sentences, e.g. trouble putting words in the right order or understanding complex sentences (Let’s all go through to the dining room, so that this room is a bit emptier for the cleaners)
- Meaning (semantics), e.g. difficulty with abstract concepts or dual-meanings (above, below, yesterday, in a few hours)
- Use of language (pragmatics): e.g. trouble having successful conversations or giving the right amount of information (only talking about cars or answer the question ”where did you go on holiday? With ”Away” or “54 Beach Road, Hemsby, NR14 1xj, a house built in 1904)
It is not a parenting problem, Botting pointed out, and neither connected to impoverished settings. SLI is a lifelong impairment and language remains the key issue throughout development. Furthermore it is not homogenous and we need to explore the differences in the group of children with SLI.
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