Communication Disorders Flashcards
What is a communication disorder?
Disorders of communication include deficits in language, speech, and communication.
What is Speech referred as?
Speech is the expressive production of sounds and includes an individual’s articulation, fluency, voice, and resonance quality.
What is language referred as?
Language includes the form, function, and use of a conventional system of symbols (i.e., spoken words, sign language, written words, pictures) in a rule-governed manner for communication.
What is communication?
Communication includes any verbal or nonverbal behavior (whether intentional or unintentional) that influences the behavior, ideas, or attitudes of another individual.
What must a diagnosis of communication, speech and language account for?
Assessments of speech, language and communication abilities must take into account the individual’s cultural and language context, particularly for individuals growing up in bilingual environments.
The standardized measures of language development and of nonverbal intellectual capacity must be relevant for the cultural and linguistic group (i.e., tests developed and standardized for one group may not provide appropriate norms for a different group).
What is the four diagnostic criteria for communication disorder?
A. Persistent difficulties in the acquisition and use of language across modalities (i.e., spoken, written, sign language, or other) due to deficits in comprehension or production that include the following:
B. Language abilities are substantially and quantifiably below those expected for age, resulting in functional limitations in effective communication, social participation, academic achievement, or occupational performance, individually or in any combination.
C. Onset of symptoms is in the early developmental period.
D. The difficulties are not attributable to hearing or other sensory impairment, motor dysfunction, or another medical or neurological condition and are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay.
Diagnotic criteria CD: What does persistent difficulties in the acquisition and use of language across modalities include?
- Reduced vocabulary (word knowledge and use).
- Limited sentence structure (ability to put words and word endings together to form
sentences based on the rules of grammar and morphology). - Impairments in discourse (ability to use vocabulary and connect sentences to explain or describe a topic or series of events or have a conversation).
The language deficits are evident in spoken communication, written communication, or sign language. Language learning and use is dependent on both receptive and expressive skills. Expressive ability refers to the production of vocal, gestural, or verbal signals, while receptive ability refers to the process of receiving and comprehending language messages. Language skills need to be assessed in both expressive and receptive modalities as these may differ in severity. For example, an individual’s expressive language may be severely impaired, while his receptive language is hardly impaired at all.
What is a diagnosis of communication disorder based on?
This is based on the synthesis of the individual’s history, direct clinical observation in different contexts (i.e., home, school, or work), and scores from standardised tests of language ability that can be used to guide estimates of severity.
How does Language disorder usually affects vocabulary and grammar?
Language disorder usually affects vocabulary and grammar, and these effects then limit the capacity for discourse.
The child’s first words and phrases are likely to be delayed in onset; vocabulary size is smaller and less varied than expected; and sentences are shorter and less complex with grammatical errors, especially in past tense.
Some features of a communication disorder?
Deficits in comprehension of language are frequently underestimated, as children may be good at using context to infer meaning.
There may be word-finding problems, impoverished verbal definitions, or poor understanding of synonyms, multiple meanings.
Problems with remembering new words and sentences are manifested by difficulties following instructions of increasing length, difficulties rehearsing strings of verbal information (e.g., remembering a phone number or a shopping list).
Difficulties remembering novel sound sequences, a skill that may be important for learning new words.
Difficulties with discourse are shown by a reduced ability to provide adequate information about the key events and to narrate a coherent story.
What are associated features supporting diagnosis of communication disorder?
A positive family history of language disorders is often present.
Individuals, even children, can be adept at accommodating to their limited language. They may appear to be shy or reticent to talk.
Affected individuals may prefer to communicate only with family members or other familiar individuals.
Although these social indicators are not diagnostic of a language disorder, if they are notable and persistent, they warrant referral for a full language assessment.
What is the development of communication disorder?
Language acquisition is marked by changes from onset in toddlerhood to the adult level of competency that appears during adolescence. Changes appear across the dimensions of language (sounds, words, grammar, narratives/expository texts, and conversational skills) in age-graded increments and synchronies.
What is the course of communication disorder?
Language disorder emerges during the early developmental period; however, there is considerable variation in early vocabulary acquisition and early word combinations, and individual differences are not, as single indicators, highly predictive of later outcomes.
By age 4 years, individual differences in language ability are more stable, with better measurement accuracy, and are highly pre dictive of later outcomes.
Language disorder diagnosed from 4 years of age is likely to be stable over time and typically persists into adulthood, although the particular profile of language strengths and deficits is likely to change over the course of development.
