"Language development disorders in childhood are very frequent, so that at the age of 11 years there are 10% of children who do not speak or write correctly, and this constitutes a public health problem, a drama of our society. These data for France are very similar to those of Spain and most Western countries". This was stated by Dr. Emilie Schlumberger, neuropediatrician at the Raymond Poincaré Center for Language and Learning Disorders reference letter in Paris, at the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra.

"The major difficulty lies in distinguishing early on between transient disorders - which disappear by the age of 6 - and those that are going to be severe, requiring intensive, specialized and early speech therapy re-education. these represent 1% of the child population, while written language disorders or dyslexia reach about 7%."

Dr. Schlumberger spoke about "Learning disorders: experience of a French center reference letter " in a session of the Neurosciences series. For this expert, early diagnosis is essential to initiate intensive therapy. "One should be suspicious if the child at the age of 3 does not pronounce sentences, or if at the age of 4 it is still unintelligible. Another possibility - less frequent - is that he does not understand what is said to him either. Sometimes, their harsh behavior is striking, their frequent anger because they don't know how to explain themselves," he pointed out.

Rule out other problems

According to her, "the diagnosis needs to rule out other problems such as hearing impairment, intellectual disability, autism disorder subject , lack of stimulation at home or a neurological disease affecting the brain. Therefore, it is diagnosed after several interviews and with some complementary diagnostic tests." For Dr. Schlumberger, the work of a speech therapist is essential. "I advise a study multidisciplinary, guided by a neuropediatrician and with the partnership of an experienced speech therapist."

There is no exact criterion on the age of the child to give the alarm signal, but "parents and teachers should be attentive, since the diagnostic process needs time and intervention should begin as soon as possible". As he explained, "it is possible to treat before the age of 4 years; and in this case the evolution is more favorable. If a child who speaks little at the age of 3 is observed, after a first contact with the neuropediatrician, special attention can be given at home and at school, to monitor this development. If no progress is made in a few months, logopedic reeducation will be started".

She also emphasized that "even if they have a severe oral language disorder they often can - and should - learn to write at the age of 5. It is a very important finding because written language will give them support," he commented.