"Me go me go me bus my" Tommy is 6 years old. He is not intellectually impaired or delayed. He is not deaf. He is not physically disabled. In fact, he looks like all the other children, but he has a specific language disorders. Tommy has been followed by Speech-Language Pathologist since the age of 3 and he is presently attending a special language class where the ratio is one teacher for every 10 students. Tommy has significant problem in understanding language. These difficulties are so severe that they limit his ability to express himself verbally, to play with friends and to participate in neighbourhood activities. Still, Tommy wants to communicate and he is continually trying to understand language though what he sees - he does well when he is shown what to do.

Approximately 25 out of every 10,000 people have specific language disorders. A severe disorder - formerly called congenital Aphasia and also called specific language impairment or, in french, " la dysphasie " it’s thought to be caused by a neurological dysfunction in the area of the brain responsible for language, although there is not yet a way to confirm this. Because the language disorder causes problems in other areas of development, it does indeed become a handicap. Children with specific language disorders have significant problems in auditory processing, in language comprehension and expression, in abstraction and generalization as well as major difficulties in temporal sequencing.

At school age, language disordered children will continue to need specialized services, some school boards have language classes which address the language adaptation and still needed for a child to have maximum learning opportunities in school. The services of the Speech-Language Pathologist continue to be critical particularly in the early school years. The Speech-Language Pathologist may also help with the transition from elementary to high school, where new language demands may appear.

A Speech-Language Pathologist is the key person in the diagnosis of language disorder. The Speech-Language Pathologist works closely with other members of a multidisciplinary team (audiologist, psychologist, teacher, doctor, occupational therapist, parent, etc.) to establish the links between the language difficulties, learning difficulties and cognitive difficulties. The Speech-Language Pathologist also meets with the parents to outline the language intervention plan, to equip them in how therapy works and to answer their questions. Finally, the Speech-Language Pathologist works directly with the child. It is through the specialized interventions which extend over a period of years, and through the integrated approach of all involved that the language disordered child can grow and develop into a functional and independent individual.