Many children with language-learning disabilities are deficient
in word knowledge. During early childh ood,
they are often late in acquiring their first words and are slow
to add words to their vocabulary.
| Difficulty
with reading often delays growth in word knowledge... |
During later
childhood and adolescence, they may have poor comprehension
of words and expressions that have multiple meanings, causing
difficulties in reading comprehension. At the same time, because
reading is critical for vocabulary development, difficulty with
reading often delays growth in word knowledge and reduces the
data base from which to select appropriate words in speaking
and writing.
Among the causes for word-finding
disorders are:
- Vocabulary weakness which results in reduced ability to store words; and
- Weak or limited word retrieval skills.
Word-finding
deficits are often recognized during general conversation
activities. Clues often surface when a child uses frequent
pauses, repetitions, circumlocutions, fillers such as "uhm"
and "err," and non-specific words (i.e. "thing"
or "stuff"), resulting in imprecise communication.
When children and adolescents experience difficulty in finding
words, they often produce erroneous words as substitutions
for the target words. In addition, they often have extended
response times when naming objects, exhibit reduced accuracy,
and trade speed for accuracy or accuracy for speed.
Children and adolescents with suspected word-finding disorders
should be referred by their teachers or parents for professional
speech and language evaluations. Typically, assessment of
word retrieval skills using formal standardized testing and
observation of a child’s conversational performance are
tools used to determine whether a word-finding problem impairs
the child’s ability to communicate effectively.
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