Developmental Language Disorders in Children: Relationship with Learning Disability and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Speech and language disorders frequently co-occur in children who are at risk for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The prognosis for children with developmental language disorders is not always positive. The majority continue to experience continued difficulties in later years, with a large percentage placed in special education classes and/or later diagnosed with co-occurring psychopathology. Research relative to the importance of language in psychosocial development and skill acquisition as well as the diagnostic classification of language disorders is presented. The research that explores the comorbidity relative to the relationship between language disorders and learning disability (ranging from 6–90%) is reviewed. Further, the high comorbidity of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and language disorders (ranging from 10–59%) is examined. The research reviewed in this article strongly supports the need to at least minimally assess language when a child is referred due to attention al difficulties or learning disability. Additional implications for school psychologists are discussed.