There will never be a day that we don’t need language. It can be used in so many contexts and in so many ways. Some of us use language verbally, some use it through sign language and some use it through devices. Needless to say, it is paramount to relationships, learning, protesting, requesting, commenting, expressing and understanding.

When we refer to receptive language, we are referring to the language that we understand. A child who has difficulty with receptive language may incorrectly respond to wh- questions (such as who, what, when, where, why), may forget or misinterpret new and familiar vocabulary, or may not be able to follow a multi-step direction. Receptive language makes learning content extremely challenging and will often also impact a child’s expressive language.

Expressive language is the language we use to express our wants, needs, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. It refers to our vocabulary, our sentence structure, and our use of grammatical markers. Late talkers, children who consistently confuse pronouns or tense, and children who have difficulty sequencing a story are often experiencing some kind of language delay.