The Link between Language Development and Dyslexia

It makes sense that spoken language and written language are linked together in our brains.  Therefore it’s probably not surprising to you that there can be links between dyslexia and difficulties with speech and language.  This is not to say that everyone with dyslexia has problems with spoken language and every child with language delays has dyslexia.  However, there is enough of a link that I think parents of children with dyslexia need to know about it. 

HOW DO WE DEVELOP LANGUAGE?

To better understand how language development and dyslexia can be linked together, we need to understand how humans develop language in the first place. Children have a natural gift for learning language and most children acquire oral language pretty easily.  First words come around 1 year of age, and by age 2 they are starting to put words together into short phrases. Language development is broken into two broad categories: expressive language and receptive language. Receptive language is the ability to understand what is being said to you, and this begins in infancy.  Expressive language is the ability to communicate with words (or signs, in the case of sign language). 

Adults don’t really have to teach children to develop language, but it is important that developing brains are frequently exposed to language. This is why we pediatricians preach limiting screen time (a less effective way to acquire language) and encourage having lots of face-to-face conversations with your infant, toddler and child. 

LANGUAGE DELAYS AND DYSLEXIA

It is common for people with dyslexic brains to have a history of difficulty developing language as young children and there are a couple possible reasons why:

One reason is that dyslexic brains may develop receptive and expressive language differently compared to other kids their age. The onset of talking may be delayed (later than 18 months of age), or they may do some of the following:

• struggle with pronunciation that lasts beyond kindergarten (example: saying “sar-keet” for “car seat”. These types of cute mix-ups of phonemes are typically resolved by the time they go to kindergarten, but may persist in dyslexics).
• difficulty rhyming
• difficulty retrieving the correct word they want to say (and instead say something that sounds similar or just giving up and saying “I forgot” or “I don’t know).

 The second reason is that they also have a separate disability called Developmental Language Disorder.  DLD is a communication disorder that impacts the learning, understanding and use of language that starts in early childhood but persists into adulthood.  Some people with dyslexia also have DLD, similar to the way dyslexia can overlap with ADHD or dysgraphia. 

BUT WHY?

To try to understand this connection between dyslexia and delayed language development from a neurological standpoint, let’s look at the components of oral language that listed on the International Dyslexia Association website.

Oral language is composed of five main components:

• Phonology (understanding and use of the speech sounds in words)
• Morphology (understanding and use of meaningful word parts, e.g., pre, un, ion)
• Vocabulary or Semantics (understanding and use of the meaning of words)
• Syntax (understanding and use of the grammatical aspects of language)
• Pragmatics (understanding and use of language in various contexts)

Phonology - the understanding and use of speech sounds in words - can be an area of weakness for the dyslexic brain. If kids struggle with picking up speech sounds in words, this will carry over to struggles with phonemic awareness when it’s time to learn to read and write.  For instance, if phonologically you are not perceiving the ‘c’ ‘a’ and ‘t’ sounds in the word CAT, then being told to “sound it out” when trying to read or write, it is frustrating and futile.  [ Looking back I feel terrible for the number of times I told my 6 year old child to “sound it out” before I knew about her dyslexia.  She must have wanted to scream because she had no idea what this meant! ]

And it’s not all about phonology. Research has clearly shown that many dyslexic children and adults may struggle not only with the phonological aspect of language but also have challenges in building vocabulary and in language comprehension. 

HOW AND WHEN TO INVOLVE A SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST (SLP)?

At the core of dyslexia is a weakness in phonemic awareness, the ability to link sounds to symbols (letters).  If a child has difficulty pronouncing words, then this is going to get in the way of linking letters to sounds for the purposes of reading and writing. 

 For example, kids might swap “th” sound for a “d” sound causing her to say “dis”, “dat”, “dare” instead of “this”, “that”, “there”.   You can imagine how this could get in the way of her recognizing those words in text and learning to spell them once they reach school age. 

 So if you have any concerns about your child’s language development at any stage then you should speak to your pediatrician about it. They can help you determine if the mispronunciations are still developmentally normal for the age, or lasting longer than they should.  They can then refer you to to Speech-Language Pathologist for evaluation and speech therapy. This support can lay important groundwork for phonemic awareness and learning to read and write later. 

If your child is older and already in school but continues to struggle with appropriately using language to speak, read and write, then you should talk to your pediatrician AND your child’s school about getting a SLP involved. 

IS IT DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE DISORDER (DLD) OR ARE THEY JUST A “LATE TALKER”?

DLD runs strongly in families, so if grandma tries to reassure you by naming all the other family members that were late talkers, you might want to consider getting an evaluation.   Like ADHD and dysgraphia, DLD can occur alongside dyslexia. I’ve talked before about how learning disabilities can sometimes first present as behavioral difficulties because at the core the child is anxious and frustrated. The same is true for DLD. They may be seen as being defiant for not following instructions, but perhaps they never understood the instructions!

If you suspect your child might have DLD, then your next step is to get connected with an SLP through a pediatrician referral or through your school. 

CONCLUSIONS

Language development is key to future school success for so many reasons, but it may also be some of our first clues that our child has a dyslexic brain.  Be sure that a good speech and language evaluation has been done as part of any diagnostic evaluation for reading disability.

If you found you could use s refresher about the basics of the neuroscience of dyslexia be sure to check out this video.