Language-Based Learning Disabilities: Language-based learning disabilities are problems with age-appropriate reading, spelling, and/or writing. This disorder is not about how smart a person is. Most people diagnosed with learning disabilities have average to superior intelligence.

Preschool Language Disorders:

  • Receptive Language Disorder: Some children have problems with understanding. They may have trouble:
    • Understanding what gestures mean
    • Following directions
    • Answering questions
    • Identifying objects and pictures
    • Taking turns when talking with others
  • Expressive Language Disorder: Some children have problems talking. They may have trouble:
    • Asking questions
    • Naming objects
    • Using gestures
    • Putting words together into sentences
    • Learning songs and rhymes
    • Using correct pronouns, like “he” or “they”
    • Knowing how to start a conversation and keep it going
  • Literacy-related difficulties: Some children have trouble with early reading and writing skills, such as:
    • Holding a book right side up
    • Looking at pictures in a book and turning pages
    • Telling a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end
    • Naming letters and numbers
    • Learning the alphabet

Selective Mutism: Selective mutism (formerly known as elective mutism) usually happens during childhood. A child with selective mutism does not speak in certain situations, like at school, but speaks at other times, like at home or with friends. Selective mutism often starts before a child is 5 years old. It is usually first noticed when the child starts school and is thought to be an anxiety disorder.