What Are Language Disorders?

Language disorders occur when a person has difficulty understanding others (receptive language) and expressing ideas effectively (expressive language). This can also include social communication (pragmatics). Language disorders can be developmental (occur during childhood) or can be acquired as the result of a stroke or injury to the brain, which is known as Aphasia.

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Aphasia is a language disorder that can make it difficult to understand what others say, to express thoughts and ideas effectively, to read, and to write. Signs of aphasia can include having difficulty answering questions, requiring extra time to understand information, difficulty thinking of words, saying the wrong words, substituting sounds or words, speaking fluently without making sense, and/or having difficulty understanding jokes or figurative language.