Knowing The Characteristics And How To Cope With Children With Language Disorders

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JAKARTA - Language disorders are communication disorders that can be experienced by children. Children with language disorders have difficulty understanding a language, either orally, in writing, or both. Children with language disorders often use short or simple sentences, mix word order, or say "um" a lot. These challenges can cause problems at home, at school, and in the child's peer environment.

Language disorders are different from speech disorders. In speech disorders, children have problems making sounds. In language disorders, children can make sounds but have difficulty using them to communicate.

Then, what are the symptoms of language disorders? Signs that a child may have a language disorder include;

Difficulty learning and using spoken and written language Struggles to learn and use movement Difficulty understanding vocabulary, sentence structure, or carrying on a conversation Has difficulty following directions or organizing thoughts Uses short and simple sentences Puts words in the wrong order Says a lot of "um" as a pause when trying to remember the right word Repeats part of a question or the whole question before answering it Avoids talking to people they don't know well Don't know many words

To diagnose a language disorder, a speech and language therapist will give your child some tests. This test will show how well the child can understand and speak the language.

A child is diagnosed if they cannot communicate as well as other children their age and have difficulty with;

Knows many words Speaks or writes long sentences Share information Have a conversation

In addition to carrying out several tests, the doctor will also test several things that are thought to affect your child's language skills, including deafness. Language disorders often run in families. A child is more likely to have a language disorder if they have a parent or sibling with a similar condition.

The most appropriate way to treat children with language disorders is speech and language therapy. Language disorders can also lead to other challenges, such as depression or social anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help children with language disorders who have emotional or behavioral problems.

For that, seek help immediately if you have a child with a language disorder. Because children with language disorders are likely to find it difficult to make friends. This can cause them to feel depressed or have social anxiety.