Communication Disorder

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Communication Disorder (developmental disorders of speech and language)

Children vary widely in their achievement of speech and language. Half of all children use words with meanings by 12.5 months and 97% do so by 21 months. Half form words into simple sentences by 23 months (Neligan and Prudham 1969). Vocabulary and complexity of language develop rapidly during the pre-school years. However, when children start school, 1% are seriously retarded in speech and 5% have difficulty in making themselves understood by strangers. The process by which language is acquired is complex and is still not fully understood.

Causes of communication disorder

No cause can be found in the majority of children with speech and language disorders. These cases are said to have specific developmental speech and language disorder. It is most important to detect the primary conditions, that are present in the minority. The most common of these causes is learning disability. Other important causes are deafness, cerebral palsy, and pervasive developmental disorder. Social deprivation can cause mild delays in speaking or add to the effects of the other causes.

Classification of Communication Disorder

The classification differs in some ways between ICD-lO and DSM-IY. ICD-lO uses the title 'specific developmental disorders of speech and language', whereas DSM-IV has the wider title 'communication disorders'. Three disorders appear in both classifications, though with some differences in nomenclature:

• phonological disorder (DSM-IV) or specific speech articulation disorder (ICD-IO);
• specific developmental expressive language disorder (the term used in both classifications);
• mixed receptive-expressive disorder (DSM-IV); here lCD-H) has the narrower term specific developmental receptive language disorder.

ICD-lO (but not DSM-IV) has a fourth category of acquired aphasia with epilepsy. In DSM-IV, the wider title of the group allows the inclusion of stuttering; The narrower. title in ICD-I0 does not cover stuttering, which is coded instead under behavioral disorders of childhood.

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