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Receptive Language Explained

When children are assessed for a language delay, there are several areas of language that are evaluated. One of these areas is receptive language, or the language that a child understands. While children are frequently referred to speech therapy due to limited expressive language (the language they are using), receptive language often plays a part in language delays. When children have difficulty comprehending spoken or written language, this leads to difficulty with producing it as well. There are several ways a receptive language impairment can impact a child’s communication abilities, including difficulty following directions, difficulty answering questions, difficulty with understanding and retaining new vocabulary, and difficulty with the meaning of language.

One way of assessing receptive language is to see how well children are able to follow directions, such as “go get your shoes” or even two-step directions such as “go get your shoes and put them on the shelf.” Some children may respond better to indirect instructions as they may feel pressure when told “point at the cow,” or “show me the color red.” Indirect statements such as “let’s find the cow” or “cow, where are you?” may also provide a good indication of receptive language abilities if a child is hesitant to follow directions.

When following directions, there are many components that come into play, including vocabulary, grammar, and spatial/temporal concepts. Even in a seemingly simple direction such as “put your car in the box before we leave,” there are many complex concepts. In order to follow this direction, a child has to understand the nouns “car” and “box,” they have to understand the verbs “put” and “leave,” as well as the preposition “in” and the temporal concept “before.” If a child does not understand any one of these concepts, they may demonstrate errors with following this direction. They may put the car in their pocket, they may go straight to the door to leave without cleaning up the car, or they may put away the airplane toy instead.

If you notice your child demonstrating errors with following directions or perhaps seeming overwhelmed by any directions at all, try these suggestions:

  • Narrate what you are doing without putting pressure on the child. For example, “I’m putting my car in. I’m putting my airplane in. I’m putting my train in.”
  • Simplify your language to only use one step at a time, and shorten your sentences when possible. For example, “Put the car in. Car is in the box. Now let’s go home.”
  • Emphasize the part of the directions that the child appears to be having trouble understanding. For example, if the child puts the car next to the box instead of in, you can model “Put the car IN. IN car, IN. Go IN. It’s IN the box” while you show the child what “in” means.

 

Receptive language skills. Speech Therapy Talk. (2024, January 19). https://speechtherapytalk.com/speech-language-development/receptive-language/

Childhood spoken language disorders. (n.d.). https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/preschool-language-disorders/

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