Childhood Language Impairments Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards that cover major concepts, developmental milestones, disorder types, assessment tools, and treatment techniques discussed in the Childhood Language Impairments lecture.

Prelinguistic Stage

Early language period (about 3–6 months) when infants communicate through sounds, facial expressions, and eye contact rather than words.

Gaze Coupling

Mutual eye-gaze exchanges between infant and caregiver that support early social and language development.

Babbling

Repetitive consonant–vowel vocal play (around 6–10 months) that precedes true words (e.g., “bababa”).

Intentionality

The purposeful use of gestures or vocalizations by infants to convey meaning.

Representation (Play)

Using one object to stand for another during play, such as a hand towel serving as a doll’s blanket.

Symbolization

Understanding that a word or sign stands for a person, object, or idea.

Lexicon

A child’s personal “dictionary” of words learned from their environment; grows to 50+ words by 24 months.

Fast Mapping

A preschool learning strategy where children infer a new word’s meaning from context and use it quickly in conversation.

Figurative Language

Non-literal language (idioms, metaphors, etc.) that develops in the school-age years and supports literacy.

Idiom

An expression whose meaning is not predictable from the literal words (e.g., “hit the road”).

Metalinguistic Awareness

Ability to think about, discuss, and judge language—critical for reading and writing.

Developmental Language Disorder

Language difficulties present from birth, not acquired through injury or illness.

Acquired Language Disorder

Language impairment resulting from accident, injury, or environmental factors after a period of normal development.

Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

Significant language difficulties not linked to neurological, sensory, intellectual, or emotional deficits.

Working Memory

Cognitive system for temporarily holding information; often limited in children with SLI.

Executive Functioning

Higher-level cognitive skills (planning, organization, inhibition) that can be weak in SLI.

Intellectual Impairment/Disability

Limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors arising before age 18.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Neurodevelopmental condition affecting communication, social interaction, and imaginative play across a wide range of abilities.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Older umbrella term that included ASD, characterized by widespread developmental delays.

Standardized Testing

Formal assessment comparing a child’s language skills to normative samples; scores help determine service eligibility.

Language Sampling

Collecting and analyzing a child’s spontaneous speech to evaluate real-life language use.

Self Talk

Therapy technique where the clinician narrates their own actions to model language for the child.

Parallel Talk

Clinician narrates the child’s actions to provide language input tied directly to the child’s focus.

Language Expansion

Clinician repeats a child’s utterance and adds grammatical detail to form a complete sentence.

Phonological Awareness

Sensitivity to sound structures of language (rhymes, syllables); foundation for early literacy.

Articulation Disorder

Speech disorder involving difficulty producing specific speech sounds due to motor or structural issues.

Phonological Disorder

Patterned sound errors reflecting difficulties with the sound system of a language rather than isolated speech sounds.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Motor speech disorder where children have difficulty planning and sequencing the movements for speech.

Morphological Development

Acquisition of word endings and verb tenses, typically refined during the school-age years.