What is a Child Language Disorder?

Child language disorders (CLD) are conditions that impair a child’s ability to understand or use language, whether spoken, written, or signed. It includes vocabulary, grammar, and putting thoughts into sentences. Identifying and addressing these issues early is crucial for a child's academic success, social development, and overall quality of life.

Explore Disorder Types

This section helps you identify potential signs of a language disorder. You can explore the common types and their symptoms, or use the interactive checker to see typical milestones for a specific age.

1. Receptive

2. Expressive

Receptive Disorder (Understanding Language)

This involves difficulty understanding language. A child struggles to grasp the meaning of words, sentences, or concepts spoken by others.

• Difficulty Following Directions: Trouble comprehending instructions, especially multi-step or complex ones.

• Poor Auditory Attention: Appearing to 'tune out' or struggling to focus in group settings.

• Misunderstanding Concepts: Not understanding questions, abstract concepts, or figurative language (like jokes).

• Learning New Vocabulary: Taking longer than peers to learn and retain new words.

Expressive Disorder (Using Language)

This involves difficulty using language to express thoughts, feelings, and needs. A child may know what they want to say but struggle to formulate the message.

Limited Vocabulary: Using a smaller range of words than peers of the same age.

• Grammatical Errors: Frequent mistakes in tense, pronouns (e.g., 'him' instead of 'he'), or word endings.

• Simple Sentence Structure: Relying on short, simple sentences when peers use more complex ones.

• Word-Finding Difficulties: Often pausing, using filler words like 'um,' or substituting the correct word.

• Disorganized Storytelling: Difficulty retelling events in a logical sequence or providing necessary context.

Interactive Milestone Checker 

Select an age range below to see the typical receptive and expressive language skills, as well as potential red flags for that period.

Birth - 3 months

Seems to know your voice and quiets down if crying

Reacts to loud sounds with a startle reflex

Is awakened by loud voices and sounds

Vocalizes pleasure and displeasure sounds differently (laughs, giggles, coos, cries, or fusses

Makes noise and smiles when spoken to

Responds to sound of rattle

4 – 6 months

Looks or turns toward a new sound

Responds to “no” and changes in tone of voice

Enjoys rattles and other toys that make sounds

Vocalizes back when talked to

Begins to repeat sounds (such as, “ooh,” “aah,” and “ba-ba”)

7 – 11 months

Responds to his or her own name, telephone ringing, or someone’s voice even when not loud

Knows words for common things (such as, “cup” or “shoe”) and sayings (such as, “bye-bye”)

Babbles (says "ba-ba-ba," "ma-ma" or "da-da")

Tries to communicate by actions or gestures

Looks at things or pictures when someone talks about them

Starts to respond to requests (such as, “come here”)

Enjoys games like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake

Makes babbling sounds, even when alone

Imitates simple words and sounds; may use a few single words or baby signs meaningfully.

12 – 17 months

Understands simple phrases (such as, “put the ball in the box” or “put the car on the table”)

Enjoys being read to

Follows one-step commands when shown by a gesture

Answers simple questions by shaking his/her head or going to get an item when asked

Says two to three words to label a person or object (pronunciation may not be clear)

Tries to imitate simple words

Vocabulary includes four to six words or more

Says more words as each month passes

18 – 23 months

Understands the meaning of action words (such as clap, sit or jump)

Points to some body parts when asked

Understands and answers simple “yes-no” questions (such as, “Are you hungry?”)

Understands “not now” and “no more”

Chooses things by size (such as, “big” or “little”)

Uses a vocabulary of 50 words, pronunciation is often unclear

Asks for common foods by name

Makes animal sounds (such as, "moo")

Starts to combine words into 2- to 3-word phrases to talk about and ask for things (such as, "more milk")

Begins to use pronouns (such as, "mine")

2 – 3 years

Knows some spatial concepts (such as "in" or "on")

Understands and uses more pronouns (such as, "you," "me" or "her")

Knows descriptive words (such as, "big" or "happy")

Answers many simple questions

Follows two-step commands (such as, “Get your shoes and come here.”)

Uses three- to four-word sentences

Uses at least 100 words by 2 years of age

Uses question inflection to ask for something (such as, "My ball?")

Begins to use plurals, such as "shoes" or "socks" and regular past tense verbs (such as, "jumped")

Speech pronunciation is improving, but may still leave off ending sounds; strangers may not be able to understand much of what is said

3 – 4 years

Answers simple questions (such as, "What do you do when you are hungry?")

Groups objects into categories (such as, foods or clothes)

Recognizes colors

Uses 300 to 500 words by 3 years of age

Describes the use of objects (such as, "You eat with a fork")

Has fun with language; enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities such as, "Is that an elephant on your head?")

Expresses ideas and feelings rather than just talking about the world around him

Uses verbs that end in "ing" (such as, "walking" or "talking")

Uses most speech sounds, but may distort some of the more difficult or later developing sounds, (such as l, r, s, sh, ch, v, z, th)

Uses consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Some of the more difficult consonants may be distorted, but tries to say them

Strangers are able to understand much of what is said

4 – 5 years

Answers "why" questions

Lists items that belong in a category (such as, animals or vehicles)

Understands more abstract spatial concepts (such as, "behind" or "next to")

Understands complex questions

Uses some irregular past tense verbs (such as, "ran" or "fell")

Describes how to do things (such as, painting a picture)

Speech is understandable, but makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words (such as, "hippopotamus")

5 years

Understands time sequences (such as, what happened first, second, or third)

Carries out a series of three directions

Understands rhyming

Engages in conversation

Produces sentences that can be eight or more words in length

Uses compound and complex sentences

Describes objects

Uses imagination to create stories

Please note:

While not every child develops speech and language on the same timetable, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders does provide a list of age-appropriate speech and language milestones for babies and young children.

If you suspect your child is failing behind his peers, consult your child’s doctor or schedule a speech and language evaluation for your child.