English for the Students of Speech Therapy

What causes language disorders in children? There are really two answers to
this question: “a lot of things” and “we don’t know.” Language and
communication deficits are the most common sequelae of a variety of
disorders that affect mental development. We might say that language is the
“final common pathway” through which a broad range of disruptions of
neurological development are expressed. So there are really as many causes
of language disorders as there are conditions that language disorders are
associated with, and there are lots of those. Hearing impairment, Down
syndrome, and fetal alcohol syndrome are just a few examples. On the other
hand, many children present with disorders of language learning for which
no identifiable cause can be established. These children may have specific
disorders of language acquisition, with few other obvious difficulties. Or
they may have language disorders associated with another condition, such as
autism or nonspecific mental retardation, for which the cause is unknown. So
you can see why we might say that language disorders in children have
multiple causes as well as unknown origins.