Behind the Scenes of Developmental Language Disorder: Time to Call Neuropsychology Back on Stage

Abstract

Although the Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), also known as Specific Language Impairment in children has been the focus of unceasing scientific attention for decades, the nature and mechanisms of this disorder remain unclear. Most importantly, we still cannot reliably identify children requiring urgent intervention among other ‘late talkers’ at an early age and understand the high prevalence of comorbidity with psychiatric phenomena such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. One of the main reasons for this is the traditional ‘diagnosis-by-exclusion,’ resulting in heterogeneity of the DLD population. This paper proposes an alternative approach to the diagnosis, treatment and research of DLD, claiming that it is these children’s multiple deficits in neuropsychological development, which impede the spontaneous acquisition of their first language. Specifically, this review of the state-of-the-art in DLD research demonstrates deep and systematic interconnections between the speech and other higher cognitive functions developing in early childhood, including perception, attention and executive functions. In the proposed framework, speech is, therefore, considered as one of neuropsychological abilities, and the delay in its development is explained by other neuropsychological deficits, resulting in highly individual clinical profiles. By considering DLD as a complex neuropsychological syndrome, whose successful treatment depends on a holistic approach to diagnosis and intervention, we may significantly increase the efficacy of speech therapy, and also better understand the flexibility of the developing brain, its compensatory mechanisms and hence the comorbidity of DLD with psychiatric symptoms. Implications for using this paradigm in future scientific research are discussed.

Association of epileptiform brain activity and specific language impairment (SLI) in preschool children

“…Specific language impairment (SLI) is characterized by delayed or impaired language development in children with no primary physical disabilities, neurological disorder, or mental illness [1]. Neurobiology and genetics studies offer a delimited but critical window into understanding the complex causal mechanisms associated with SLI [2,3].…”

Behavioral problems of Mandarin-speaking late-talking toddlers and preschool aged children

“…Children with developmental language disorder often have difficulties in their social-emotional development and exhibit more behavioral problems than their typical language developing (TLD) counterparts. [ 4 ]…”

Beyond the Senses: How Self-Directed Speech and Word Meaning Structure Impact Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind in Individuals With Hearing and Language Problems

“…DLD is attributed to individuals who are delayed in their language development in the absence of a known biomedical etiology (Bishop et al, 2017 ). DLD is a heterogeneous disorder that may be characterized by various underlying neuropsychological deficits (Tomas and Vissers, 2019 ). It has a prevalence of 7–14% in children younger than 5 years (Law et al, 2017 ).…”