Understanding Language Pathologies: Causes, Symptoms, and Types
Language Pathologies
Language pathologies, also known as language disorders, involve difficulties, disorders, disturbances, or disruptions in linguistic abilities. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association defines language disorders as issues in the acquisition, comprehension, and expression of spoken and written language.
Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
SLI refers to difficulties in language functions in individuals without intellectual disabilities, sensory, neurological, emotional, or anatomical deficits.
Causes of Language Disorders
The causes of language disorders are diverse and can include:
- Genetic factors
- Neurological factors
- Anatomical factors
- Functional factors
- Psychosocial factors
Linguists often attribute these disorders to abnormal physiological processes in the systems involved in speech production and comprehension. Chronologically acquired disorders are typically organic in nature.
Requirements for Normal Language Development
Normal language development requires:
- Proper auditory function
- Normal psychological development
- Physical maturation and integrity of anatomical and neurophysiological systems
- Proper functioning of peripheral organs involved in speech
Types of Language Disorders (DSM-III)
According to the DSM-III, there are three main types of language disorders:
- Failure to acquire language (associated with mental retardation)
- Acquired language disorders
- Delayed or altered language acquisition
Signs of Language Anomalies
Signs that may indicate a language anomaly include:
- A quiet baby
- Lack of understanding of simple commands between 12 and 24 months
- Not uttering words similar to their native language around age 2
- Unintelligible speech at 3 1/2 years old, even to family members
Factors Associated with Language Disorders in Children
Factors associated with language disorders in children include:
- Conceptual difficulties (reading and writing)
- Impaired symbolic function and association of verbal signs
- Restricted mental imagination and hierarchical planning
- Slow memory
- Cognitive processing issues (attention)
Classification of Oral Language Disorders
Developmental Delay of Speech
This involves phonetic and articulatory errors, prolonging the maturation period for acquiring sounds, phrases, and sentence structures.
Audioperceptive, Verbal, and Proxomotor Alterations
These alterations include:
- Articulation errors: absence, alteration, or replacement of phonemes
- Inability to correct certain types of phonemes
Audioperceptive Alterations
The child can articulate the phoneme in isolation but not within a word and may avoid using it altogether.
Proxomotor Alterations
These phonetic alterations affect motor execution or speech production due to incoordination of bucco-articulatory movements.
Organic Articulatory Alterations
These are oral production issues caused by anatomical and/or physiological problems in the peripheral articulatory system (e.g., dysglossia).
Dyslalia
Dyslalia is a difficulty or alteration in the articulation of phonemes. Phonemes may be omitted, altered, or replaced inappropriately. When two or more phonemes are affected, it is called multiple dyslalia. Causes are classified as developmental, functional, audiogenic, or organic.
Evolutionary Dyslalia
Articulatory abnormalities that occur in early childhood. Children are not yet capable of reproducing exactly what they hear. Specific treatment is not always necessary, but encouragement and correction of diminutive speech are recommended.
Functional Dyslalia
Articulation impairment caused by a malfunction in the articulatory system. The child does not use speech organs correctly.
Causes of Functional Dyslalia
- Weakness in fine motor control (praxis)
- Deficits in auditory discrimination
- Inability to decode phonetic elements
- Phonological and perceptual errors
Errors of Articulation
- Replacement: emitting one sound for another
- Omission: failing to emit the phoneme
- Attachment: interspersing other sounds
- Distortion: producing a similar but incorrect articulation
Dysglossia
An organic articulation disorder affecting the organs of speech due to anatomical abnormalities or poor training.
Dysarthria
A problem with articulation characterized by slurred phonemes.
Classification of Dysglossia
Labial Dysglossia
Alterations in the form, strength, consistency, and mobility of the lips.
Mandibular Dysglossia
Issues with the jaw joint due to alterations in the jaws, such as pragmatism (prominent lower jaw) and dental anomalies.
Stuttering
An alteration or disorder of speech characterized by involuntary muscle tension, breaks, and repetitions. The origin can be neurological, psychological, or physiological. Developmental stuttering typically appears between 3 to 5 years of age.
Lalopathy
Alterations that affect oral reproduction or emission.
Labial Dysglossia – Cleft Lip
A congenital alteration in the structures that form the mouth, resulting in a cleft or separation in the lip and/or palate. It can affect speech articulation, particularly vowels and bilabial phonemes (p, b, m).
Macrostomia
An oral cleft that is usually associated with malformations of the ear and possible involvement of the eyes.
Labial Frenum
A condition that hinders the normal mobility of the upper lip.
Mandibular Dysglossia
An anomaly caused by an arrest in the development of the maxilla.
Dental Dysglossia
Alterations in the articulation due to abnormalities in the shape or position of the teeth.
Tongue Dysglossia
Includes conditions such as tongue-tie (ankyloglossia), macroglossia (large tongue), and other lingual disorders.
Palatal Dysglossia
Includes conditions such as cleft palate and high arched palate, which can lead to distortions in the articulation of phonemes, particularly /f/ and /l/.
Physiological Stuttering
A disorder of speech fluency that typically appears before the age of 7. It is often attributed to delayed neuromotor organization.
Stuttering
A disorder of speech fluency characterized by interruptions, repetitions of words, sounds, or syllables, and extensions or breaks as a result of blockages.
Classification of Stuttering
- Clonic stuttering: hesitation occurs at the beginning of speech
- Tonic stuttering: repetition occurs at the beginning of a word
- Clonic-tonic or mixed stuttering: a combination of clonic and tonic features
The etiology of stuttering can be hereditary, physical, genetic, or physiological.
Recommendations for Interacting with Stutterers
- Avoid making comments like”talk slower””relax” or”don’t be nervous”
- Do not finish their sentences for them.
- Do not tease or embarrass them.
- When they overcome a blockage, offer positive reinforcement, such as”Congratulations, you’re talking much better”
- Treat them like any other child.
Stutterers are often classified according to the age of onset. Physiological or primary stuttering typically appears around the age of 3, coinciding with a rapid increase in language production. This type of stuttering is often attributed to a delayed neuromotor organization.