Affects an individual’s understanding of what they read or of spoken language.

Individuals with Oral / Written Language Disorder and Specific Reading Comprehension Deficit struggle with understanding and/or expressing language often in both oral and written forms.

These individuals often exhibit Specific Language Impairment related to deficits in semantic processing and syntactic processing.

Semantic processing relates to encoding the meaning of words. Syntactic processing relates to the understanding of the order of words and how that can change meaning. For example, the sentences “The blanket is on the baby” and “The baby is on the blanket” use the same words, but have different meanings.

Oral and Written Language Disorder Can Impact:

  • Understanding and expressing oral or written language
  • Finding words to express themselves
  • Listening comprehension
  • Understanding how the order of words in a sentence changes the meaning
  • Comprehending words and sentences