Expressive Language Disorder

Expressive language disorder occurs when a child has problems with all aspects of producing spoken and written language.

The disorder is generally either developmental or acquired. Acquired expressive language difficulty can manifest after a trauma such as brain injury or from a medical condition.


With developmental expressive language difficulty, there is no known cause, though research does point to a genetic connection in some cases.

• Poor semantic knowledge, or word/world knowledge.




• Difficulty with syntax and grammatical rules in spoken and written sentences.




• Sentences are often short and lack detail.




• Word finding difficulty.




• An inability to be economical with language. Often use many extraneous or imprecise words, and fail to make their point.




• Difficulty in recounting a story or narrative.





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Diagnosis for expressive language difficulty is generally performed by speech-language pathologists. We use standardised language assessments that specifically target a child's ability to formulate thoughts into sentences, with correct grammar use.


We can also gather an enormous amount of information in an informal way by simply talking with a child with language disorder. This generally occurs in a friendly, stress free setting.


The child's ability to respond to questions, and how much information they can produce is noted, and filed mentally and/or written down.




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Intervention is traditionally performed one-to-one between the speech-language pathologist and the child, with therapy targeting the child's language deficits.


Language group activities, that feature several students, is also a useful treatment method that can produce good results.







Return from expressive language disorder to language disorder.