Specific Language Impairment is a language disorder that delays the learning of language skills in children with no hearing loss or other developmental delays. It is diagnosed when a child’s language does not develop normally and the difficulties such as slow development, physical abnormality of the speech apparatus, autism spectrum disorder, apraxia, and acquired brain damage cannot be counted as SLI.

The children with SLI are late to talk and may not produce any words until 2 years of all. At age 3 years they may talk but won’t be understood. As they grow older they will struggle to learn new words and make conversations. The cause of SLI is unknown, but recent studies suggest that it has a strong genetic link. Children with SLI are more likely than those without SLI to have parents and siblings who also have had difficulties and delays in speaking. In fact, 50 to 70 percent of children with SLI have at least one other family member with the disorder.

Characteristics of SLI

Limited vocabulary

Incorrect use of word structure (example: child uses ‘He drink instead of He drinks’)

Short sentence length

Grammatical errors are present

Language abilities are lower than cognitive abilities