Children with Expressive Language Disorder (ELD) may have trouble expressing themselves verbally or in writing. They may have difficulty formulating sentences, or have trouble retelling a story or recounting a personal experience. Often these tasks are difficult because they cannot retrieve the correct word when necessary. Additionally, grammar may be a hard concept for them to understand and they may not use articles (a, the), prepositions (of, with) and plurals. Grammar and Syntax are areas that consistently define children with expressive language disorders. Deficits in these areas affect a student’s ability to communicate meaningfully. An early symptom is delay in the early stages of language, so if your child takes longer to formulate words or starting to babble, it can be a sign of ELD.
Skill Builders
To improve vocabulary skills
- When reading or watching a show, have the child name pictures of objects and characters he/she sees.
- To teach higher-level vocabulary words, have him/her name parts of objects (e.g., the “roof,” “chimney,” and “windows” instead of just saying “house”).
- Have the child point to pictures of objects and characters that you name to increase vocabulary comprehension.
To improve grammar skills
- Practice expressing the specific locations of objects and characters in each scene using prepositions (e.g., in, on, under, next to, above/below, between).
- After reading the story through once, go back to the beginning. Have the child retell the story page-by-page in his/her own words. Listen for any grammar errors that come up (e.g., “Them goed in the house”), and then model the sentence correctly (e.g., “That’s right, they went into the house.”).