The Relationship Between Language and Learning Disabilities

Since the term was first introduced by Samuel Kirk in 1963, problems of language comprehension and expression have always been included as identifying characteristics of a learning disability. In fact, many argue that a language disorder is at the core of learning disabilities. Children who are late in developing language were once seen as experiencing temporary delays that would resolve spontaneously over time. However, in 1980, Snyder predicted that the language-delayed preschooler of today may well become the learning-disabled student of tomorrow. A growing body of evidence supports her prediction and suggests that many of these children do not "outgrow " these problems and that "simple " delays in communications may, in fact, be stable predictors of later learning disabilities. A particularly interesting line of research has been conducted by Paul and her colleagues. They followed a group of children from ages 2 to 6. The children were at first identified at age 2 as "late talkers " on the basis of their lack of expressive vocabulary development. Paul and her colleagues regularly assessed them on a variety of measures of language development until after entry into kindergarten. Although the majority of the "late talkers " outgrew their language deficits by age 4, they demonstrated delays in academic readiness at ages 5 and 6. Moreover, these children persisted in demonstrating social skills deficits, eve