Language Growth in Children with Language Disorders: Insights for Practitioners

Recent research by Norbury et al. (2017) provides significant insights into the language growth trajectories of children with heterogeneous language disorders. Understanding these findings can help practitioners improve their approaches to therapy and encourage further research into effective interventions.

Key Findings

The study tracked 529 children, assessing their language skills at ages 5-6 and again at ages 7-8. The children were categorized into three groups:

• Typically Developing (TD)
• Language Disorder of Unknown Origin (LD-only)
• Language Disorder with Known Clinical Conditions (LD-plus)

The key findings of the study include:

• Language growth is generally stable from ages 5-8 across all groups.
• Children with LD-only showed slightly accelerated growth in some language measures but did not narrow the gap with their TD peers.
• Children with LD-plus demonstrated parallel rates of growth to TD peers but did not fall further behind.
• Nonverbal IQ, socioeconomic status, and social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties predicted initial language scores but did not influence the rate of language growth.

Implications for Practitioners

The findings suggest that while language interventions can lead to improvements in absolute language skills, they may not be sufficient to significantly close the gap with typically developing peers. Practitioners should consider the following strategies:

• Focus on maximizing language skills necessary for academic and social participation rather than solely aiming to 'normalize' language function.
• Incorporate holistic approaches that address social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties alongside language interventions.
• Encourage further research into more intensive and targeted interventions that could potentially alter developmental language trajectories.

Encouraging Further Research

The study highlights the need for further research to determine if and how the rate of language growth can be accelerated. Future studies should explore:

• The impact of early and intensive interventions on language growth.
• The role of literacy and other educational activities in language development.
• The potential for personalized intervention plans based on individual child profiles.

To read the original research paper, please follow this link: Language growth in children with heterogeneous language disorders: a population study.