The Academic Impact of a Language Delay

A student’s language skills have an enormous influence on not only their academic skills, but also their social skills.

You already innately know this, but may have never put it to words.

You may have met the occasional student in your classroom that requires an extended amount of time to complete a written assignment. This student may have an expressive language delay. You may notice the occasional student in your classroom that requires an extended amount of time to think before they respond to a question. This student may have a receptive language delay. You may have also met the bright student that just cannot seem to come up with the right words to describe a situation or an idea. This student may have an expressive language delay. Some additional cues that a school-aged child may have a language delay include (but are not limited to);

-difficulty expressing wants and/or needs.
-difficulty asking for help or clarification.
-difficulty responding to requests.
-difficulty organizing information.
-difficulty initiating conversation.
-difficulty maintain a conversation.
-difficulty staying on topic.
-difficulty providing details.
-word finding difficulty.

Language disorders are the most common type of communication impairment among children. Knowing that these delays exists is the simply the first step. Having some idea of how they manifest in your classroom is a good next step and knowing how to help them is an excellent follow-up strategy. If the student you have in mind has an individualized education plan (IEP), please take some time to not only look through the present levels and accommodations pages, but also connect with the speech-language pathologist (SLP) to see is he or she have any hints or tips to further student success.
To this end I am providing a document that outlines some of the academic areas that may be impacted by expressive and receptive language delays.

Kindly,

Michelle