ReviewInternational journal of language & communication disorders
Ten questions about terminology for children with unexplained language problems.
Review in International journal of language & communication disorders. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of premature birth and low birth weight on motor, visual, and cognitive skills and mental health in adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- What Are the Peer Interaction Strengths and Difficulties in Children with Developmental Language Disorder? A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Passive OPM-MEG paradigm reveals altered brain network organization in children with DLD.iScience · 2026Article
- Speech and language diagnoses in monolingual and bilingual preschool children: a retrospective cohort study in a Swedish healthcare setting.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Using Predictive Performance from an Elastic Net Regression to Classify Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).Annals of otolaryngology and rhinology · 2025Article
- Similarities in semantic processing across verbal and pictorial domains in school children with developmental language disorder.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Differences in Cortical Surface Area in Developmental Language Disorder.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Everyday language input and production in 1,001 children from six continents.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Language Skills in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Health-Related Quality of Life in Kindergarten Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Child-Mother Agreement.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Oral language interventions can improve language outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Campbell systematic reviews · 2023Review
- Prevalence, co-occurring difficulties, and risk factors of developmental language disorder: first evidence for Mandarin-speaking children in a population-based study.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- Speech/Language Impairment or Specific Learning Disability? Examining the Usage of Educational Categories.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2023Article
- Perspectives of Indian speech language pathologists towards assessing adolescents with language impairments.CoDAS · 2023Article
- Predictive validity of a parental questionnaire for identifying children with developmental language disorders.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Definition and terminology of developmental language disorders-Interdisciplinary consensus across German-speaking countries.PloS one · 2023Article
- Deaf Language Specialists: Delivering Language Therapy in Signed Languages.Journal of deaf studies and deaf education · 2022Article
- Contributions of early motor deficits in predicting language outcomes among preschoolers with developmental language disorder.International journal of speech-language pathology · 2022Article
- Retrospective bullying trajectories in adults with self-reported oral language difficulties.International journal of language & communication disorders · 2022Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn domains other than language, there is fairly consistent diagnostic terminology to refer to children's developmental difficulties. For instance, the terms 'dyslexia', 'attention deficit hyperactivity disorder' and 'autistic spectrum disorder' are used for difficulties with reading, attention or social cognition, respectively. There is no agreed label, however, for children with unexplained language problems.
aimsTo consider whether we need labels for unexplained language problems in children, and if so, what terminology is appropriate. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: There are both advantages and disadvantages to labels, but they are important to ensure children receive services, and to increase our knowledge of the nature and causes of such problems. A survey of labels in current use found 132 different terms, 33 of which had 600 or more returns on Google Scholar between 1994 and 2013. Many of these labels were too general to be useful. Of the remainder, the term 'specific language impairment' was the most commonly used.
conclusionsThe current mayhem in diagnostic labels is unsustainable; it causes confusion and impedes research progress and access to appropriate services. We need to achieve consensus on diagnostic criteria and terminology. The DSM-5 term 'language disorder' is problematic because it identifies too wide a range of conditions on an internet search. One solution is to retain specific language impairment, with the understanding that 'specific' means idiopathic (i.e., of unknown origin) rather than implying there are no other problems beyond language. Other options are the terms 'primary language impairment', 'developmental language disorder' or 'language learning impairment'.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.