Oral Language
The Importance of Strong Oral Language Skills
A language disorder makes it difficult for children to understand what people are saying and to express their own thoughts and feelings. As a result, it impacts how kids learn and socialize at home, school and in the community.
Children who struggle to understand language and express themselves orally, will also struggle to understand what they are reading and be able to write to express their knowledge, thoughts and ideas effectively.
Language Disorders may include receptive, expressive and/or pragmatic difficulties.
Students with receptive language needs may have:
Difficulty attending to oral information
Difficulty remembering and recalling what is said to them
Difficulty following instructions and/or completing daily routines
Difficulty understanding new vocabulary, concepts or academic material
Difficulty abstracting main ideas and themes
Difficulty answering questions asked of them
Difficulty applying higher-level thinking skills (e.g. problem solving, analyzing, inferencing, putting information together)
Difficulty seeking help when needed
Difficulty understanding written information (e.g. if they do not understand what is being said to them, reading the same information will be especially difficult)
Students with expressive language needs may:
Struggle to express their ideas using correct vocabulary/demonstrate word finding difficulties
Use simpler sentences and/or poor grammar
Not provide sufficient information to the listener
Have difficulty using language to reason, explain, solve problems and hypothesize
Have difficulty presenting relevant ideas and information
Have difficulty providing comments or questions related to the topic of discussion
Not always contribute to oral discussions
Struggle to write (e.g. if they are unable to express their ideas through spoken language, writing their ideas may also be difficult)
Students with social-communication needs may:
Have difficulty with topic initiation, maintenance and/or closure when speaking with someone
Talk too much during conversations or talk too much about one topic
Seldom talk or participate during conversations
Demonstrate limited or inappropriate use of non-verbal cues to support their spoken message (i.e. eye contact, tone of voice, facial expressions)
Have difficulty with turn-taking and reading a listener’s verbal/non-verbal cues
Have difficulty interacting appropriately with his/her peers
Engage in topics of discussion that are often inappropriate or immature compared to his/her peers
Does not respond or react appropriately during certain social situations
Struggle to make and maintain friendships
Understanding Types of Communication Disorders
Click the links below to learn more about speech and language disorders.
OAFCCD Understanding Speech and Language Video Series