Introduction

When a young child has a hard time communicating, many parents and professionals wonder why. Are they experiencing a language disorder, or do they simply have a language difference? These terms sound similar but mean different things; understanding the difference is key to getting your child the right kind of support.

As a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I meet families who are curious about their child’s language skills and wonder if their child’s language development is on the right track. Sometimes the child does present with a language disorder; however, many times what looks like a language problem may actually be a language difference. A language difference is something that reflects your child’s background, culture, or their acquisition of a language as a second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc.) language.

What Is a Language Disorder?

A language disorder means that a child has difficulty understanding or using language in a way that’s expected for their age. Of note, children tend to have a harder time learning and remembering new words and grammatical structures. Language disorders have a neurological (brain-based) origin, often run in families, and impact about 10% of children. These challenges go beyond simple differences in dialect or exposure. That is, they reflect an underlying difficulty in how the brain processes and organizes language.

Language disorders can affect:

• Receptive language: understanding words, questions, or directions
• Expressive language: using words, sentences, or grammar to communicate thoughts
• Pragmatic language: using language socially, like taking turns in conversation or understanding tone of voice.

For example, a child with a language disorder might have trouble following multi-step directions (“Go get your shoes and put them by the door”), use short and agrammatical sentences (“Me go store”), or tell stories that are out of order or hard to follow.

 

It is important to reiterate that a language disorder isn’t caused by speaking more than one language, growing up in a bilingual home, or having a different cultural dialect .

A language difference, on the other hand, reflects the natural variation in how people use language based on their background, culture, community, or other languages that they speak.

This includes differences in:

• Accent or pronunciation
• Vocabulary (for example, “pop” vs. “soda”)
• Grammar patterns or sentence structures that are part of a dialect or second language
• Communication style (direct vs. indirect, storytelling vs. brief responses, etc.)

For instance, a child who speaks African American English, Appalachian English, or Spanglish at home may use sentence forms that differ from “standard” classroom English. These forms are legitimate and rule-governed language systems, not mistakes or signs of disorder.

Similarly, a bilingual or multilingual child who mixes languages or uses simpler English phrases while still learning is showing a language difference. That’s part of the learning process and not evidence of a language delay or disorder.

Why It Matters

Misunderstanding the difference between a language disorder and a language difference can lead to inappropriate referrals or missed support.

A child with a language difference doesn’t need speech therapy to “fix” their way of talking — they may need support in learning academic or classroom English, but their home language and dialect should be honored and maintained.

A child with a language disorder, on the other hand, can benefit greatly from speech-language therapy that targets expressive and receptive language, including vocabulary, grammar, narrative skills, and overall communication strategies.

To help provide appropriate support (and avoid intervening when intervention isn’t necessary), SLPs are trained to conduct culturally and linguistically responsive evaluations. We look at how a child performs across languages and settings to see whether difficulties are truly disorder-based or reflect differences in experience and exposure.

How Speech-Language Pathologists Make the Distinction

When assessing a child, SLPs use several key strategies to tell the difference between a disorder and a difference:

1. Gathering background information, including family languages, language exposure, and medical history.
2. Testing in both languages (when possible) to see if challenges appear across languages or just in one.
3. Using dynamic assessment, which includes looking at how a child learns when given help, rather than just test scores.
4. Consulting with families and teachers to understand how the child communicates day to day.

If a child demonstrates difficulty across all languages, then that points to a possible language disorder. If a child performs well in one language but not another, then it is likely not a disorder but a language difference.

Supporting Your Child

If your child has a language disorder, speech-language therapy can help them build the skills to express themselves more clearly and confidently. If your child has a language difference, your role as a parent or professional is to support both languages by reading books, telling stories, and having rich conversations in your home language. This strengthens identity and lays the foundation for stronger communication skills overall.

Remember that different doesn’t mean disordered. Supporting your child’s natural way of communicating helps them feel seen, valued, and capable exactly as they are.