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Speech Pathology Australia: Speech Pathology in Schools Project
13
Common speech, language and
communication needs (SLCN)
The following information is included to provide
speech pathologists with the latest advice regarding
“red flags”.
A useful resource: Visser-Bochane, Margot I.,
Gerrits, E., Van der Schans, C. P., Reijneveld,
S. A. and Luinge, M. R. (2016). Atypical speech
and language development: a consensus study
on clinical signs in the Netherlands.
International
Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
,
52 (1), 10–20.
Markers of potential concern
The following features are markers of potential
concern (red flags) for language development of
children.
4–5 years of age:
• At most, three-word sentences
• No simple sentences
• Not intelligible for strangers
• Not 50–75% intelligible for parents
• Disturbed interaction
• Does not understand spoken language/cannot
process spoken language quickly enough
5–6 years of age:
• Poorly intelligible for teacher/grandparents
• No adequate reaction to questions or
commands
• Does not understand composite commands
• At most, simple sentences
• Poor intelligibility
• Does not ask questions
6–7 years of age:
• Does not understand composite commands
• Disturbed communication
• Incomplete sentences
• No adequate reaction to questions or
commands
• Poor understanding of language
• Poor intelligibility
• Poor vocabulary
• Does not produce compound sentences
• Poor story telling
• Cluster reduction
Children who start school with oral language
difficulties are at risk of experiencing challenges
when learning to read and spell.
Some children have problems with language
development that creates significant barriers
within everyday life or educational progress.
Developmental language disorder (DLD) has
recently emerged in the literature as the preferred
term for language problems that are severe enough
to interfere with daily life.
Speech, language and communication needs
can also include the following:
• limited eye contact;
• poor turn taking and difficulty with starting and
ending conversations;
• problems getting the conversation back on
track after two people have talked at once, or
if there has been a misunderstanding between
them;
• difficulty understanding or responding to
feedback from the listener, (e.g., not noticing
when someone is bored or doesn’t understand
something);
• difficulty staying on topic in conversation;
• difficulty using language to negotiate in
discussions or arguments;
• word finding difficulties and basic use of
vocabulary;
• difficulty understanding and/or using meta
linguistic skills such as interpreting abstract
information, inferring meaning from non-literal
language, understanding and using linguistic
devices such as cohesive devices, ellipsis and
humour.