Quick reference – Problems to look out for
Presenting problems in otherwise ‘normally developing’ school age children with specific language impairments (SLI) and/or reading disorders (RD).
Presenting problems in otherwise ‘normally developing’ school age children with specific language impairments (SLI) and/or reading disorders (RD).
| Age range: 4-8yrs | Age range: 8-18yr | |
| Common comments from parents | Common comments from parents & teachers | |
| Speech | Problems with speech sounds | Problems saying multisyllabic words |
| Receptive Language | Can’t follow instructions
Can’t work unsupervised Doesn’t understand the main idea Drifts off in class, disruptive Doesn’t listen in class or at home Doesn’t have many friends | Doesn’t answer the question
Doesn’t know where to start with homework, assignments, exams Doesn’t understand the main idea or inferred message Attention difficulties Doesn’t listen in class or at home Can’t follow story lines in movies Doesn’t have many friends – difficulty with humour |
| Expressive Language | Can’t explain himself
Mixes the order of words in a sentence Can’t tell a story logically | Uses the wrong words or non specific “like” and “stuff”
Sentence structure is simplistic or poorly organised Can’t explain ideas logically |
| Literacy | Problems learning letters and sounds
Problems with sight words Can’t remember what was read Spelling problems | Problems pronouncing unfamiliar words
Slow reading results in fatigue & poor comprehension Reading ok, comprehension poor - can’t remember content Problems spelling homophones (there, their) Sentence structure is simplistic or poorly organised Can’t organise writing at paragraph or text level |