Five children - Vignettes of language disorders

The pediatric otolaryngologist cares for children who have abnormal language as a primary or secondary deficiency. Five children, each with a different form of language disorder, are presented. These are children with specific language impairment (SLI) expressive, pervasive developmental delay (autism), expressive language delay associated with severe to profound hearing loss early in life, language delay secondary to a moderate to severe hearing loss diagnosed late and not cared for, and language delay secondary delay secondary to social deprivation and otitis media with effusion.