Language delay in the context of current scientific findings

Abstract

The review study focuses on the topic of language delay (LD), which represents an early delay in language development. This early delay may be a symptom of certain neurodevelopmental disorders (autism spectrum disorders, developmental intellectual disabilities, developmental language disorders, developmental learning disorders) or may spontaneously disappear during development. The second variant of the developmental trajectory is referred to in the Czech clinical speech therapy community as simple language delay. In the Czech environment, on the one hand, the overuse of this term is pointed out; on the other hand, there is a lack of information that would more clearly delimit the category and define the situations in which we can use this term to refer to difficulties in the language development. Therefore, this study provides an overview of the existing knowledge that allows us to define the quality of language difficulties and the age range that can be related to the LD. It also reports on the prevalence, aetiology and diagnosis of LD and its relationship to neurodevelopmental disorders based on international research. It also describes specific diagnostic procedures for identifying LD in early life and for distinguishing simple LD from LD accompanying neurodevelopmental disorders. A special section of the text is devoted to developmental language disorders in the context of diagnostic markers that represent a reliable tool for differential diagnosis, as evidenced by longitudinal studies.

Keywords

• language delay
• late talkers
• diagnostics of language development
• neurodevelopmental disorders
• developmental language disorder