Language Delay and Disorders 5Social- Communication Language Development: Pragmatics
Social- communication refers to the way the child uses language to express needs, feelings,
desires, ideas, and so forth. It encompasses pragmatics, the functional pro cesses that underlie
language. Social- communication aspects of language learning include knowing when, where, and
why to communicate. This includes appropriate use of verbal turn- taking, requesting information
and clarification, and staying on the topic. We see much of social- communication language devel-
opment in the way children play games.
Playing is an impor tant part of maturation, and children’s games can be viewed as their work.
When playing games, children learn through trial and error, and there are few penalties for failure.
They are free to explore their environment, try dif fer ent cognitive styles, and discover aspects of
their personality. When the games involve other children, the social- communicative functions
of language are learned and practiced. Children play cooperatively by directing, questioning,
relating, reasoning, narrating, empathizing, and so forth, thus learning and practicing the social-
communicative aspects of language.
According to Owens (1995) and Owens, Metz, and Haas (2000), a child with a pragmatic
language disorder tends to let the environment prompt interaction; he or she responds ref lexively
and rarely asks questions. Such a child is likely to use asocial monologues, have a limited range of
communication functions, and experience difficulty with stylistic variations and speaker– listener
roles. Through individual therapies and group activities involving cooperative play, the child can
be taught to use language to express needs, feelings, desires, and ideas and to practice the func-
tional pro cesses that underlie language.
Learning Disabilities
There are several language- based learning disabilities, and approximately 7% of all school- age
children have difficulty learning and using language (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). “The
school- age population with language- learning disabilities is heterogeneous. There are multiple
etiologies for their disabilities, and multiple manifestations of their disabilities” (Westby, 1998,
p. 338). Learning disabilities are sometimes referred to as the language disorder syndrome (Wiig
& Secord, 1998).
Dyslexia and dysgraphia are reading and writing disabilities, respectively. (Alexia and agraphia
refer to the complete inability to read and write, respectively.) In dyslexia, the person has reading
comprehension prob lems due to grapheme (letter) and word perception difficulties. The disorder
is associated with poor phonological awareness and listening comprehension (Catts, 1996). Persons
with dyslexia have par tic u lar difficulty breaking the phoneme– grapheme code (Westby, 1998),
that is, the ability to pair a letter or letter combinations with a par tic u lar speech sound or sounds,
either verbally or silently in internal speech. Dyslexia at the perceptual level involves failure to
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