Understanding and Supporting Children With Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

What Is Specific Language Impairment?

SLI is a developmental disorder that affects a child’s ability to acquire, understand, and use language—even though they have normal intelligence, hearing, and overall sensory abilities. Both expressive and receptive language can be impacted. Children with SLI often start talking later than their peers. In preschool students, look for: 

• Delayed sentence formation
• Difficulty learning new words
• Trouble with conversation
• Frequent grammatical errors
• Struggling to follow directions (comprehension)

In older children, SLI symptoms include limited use of complex sentences, difficulty understanding figurative language, and reading challenges.

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) differ slightly from SLI. DLD is a more current and widely accepted term for SLI, reflecting the understanding that language challenges can persist into adulthood. ASD is a broader condition that may affect not only language but also social skills, communication, and a range of other developmental areas.

Importance of Early Recognition of SLI

Early detection of SLI can reduce academic, social, and emotional challenges. It also allows educators to create tailored learning plans that help the child feel more secure in social situations and group work, which can minimize secondary behavioral issues. SLI can be detected early when a teacher notices a child who may be behind their peers developmentally, specifically with language. 

Common tests for a child who is suspected to have SLI can include CELF, PLS, or PPVT. CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language and Fundamentals) evaluates the receptive and expressive language a child uses. PLS (Preschool Language Scale) assesses early development in young children. PPVT (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) measures vocabulary comprehension. 

Another useful tool for teachers is the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, which helps track early developmental milestones. This questionnaire is a great starting point for children who may not be on the same level as their peers.

Key Language Development Skills Affected by SLI

Dr. Carol Tolman, co-author of LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), has done significant work in the area of phonological awareness. Dr. Tolman emphasized, “Reading and writing require a level of metalinguistic speech that is not automatically or easily developed.” For children with SLI, this is especially true. They often struggle with phonemic awareness, making it difficult to distinguish words and learn new vocabulary.

• SLI also affects grammar and sentence construction. Children with SLI may omit function words, saying “She playing outside” instead of “She is playing outside.”
• They often struggle with verb tenses, using phrases like “He walk to school” instead of “He walked to school.”
• Errors in word order are also common, such as “Why he can't go?” in place of “Why can't he go?” 

Language Development In Children With SLI is Typically Impacted in Four Key Ways:

1. Slow vocabulary growth (vague terms like “thing”)
2. Difficulty retrieving the right words (may hesitate during speech)
3. Challenges in understanding word meanings (synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and word relationships)
4. Limited use of descriptive language (simpler sentence structure)

Teaching Strategies for Supporting Students With SLI 

Supporting students with SLI requires intentional strategies. With these targeted techniques, educators can improve students’ communication skills and boost confidence.

Structured Literacy Approaches

Explicit phonological instruction helps children with SLI overcome language barriers, improve literacy, and boost confidence. Teaching rhyming, blending, and segmenting sounds helps with reading, spelling, word recognition, memory, and vocabulary retention.

Repetition and modeling are key for children with SLI to strengthen language skills. Repeat clear instructions and have the child repeat them to ensure understanding. Responding to “He go to store” with “Yes, he is going to the store” models correct language use to reinforce proper structure.

Building Oral Language Skills

Engaging in back-and-forth conversations and active reading with young readers supports phonological awareness development. 

Visual aids can help children with SLI understand unclear directions. They provide a concrete reference, allowing children to connect unfamiliar words with actions. This can support learning, reduce confusion, and minimize frustration or behavioral challenges.

Vocabulary-Building Techniques

Vocabulary development is strengthened through clear instruction, contextual examples, and consistent reinforcement. Providing student-friendly definitions alongside concrete examples reduces ambiguity and supports comprehension. Interactive activities, such as small-group discussions, vocabulary games, or hands-on projects, allow students to actively use and internalize new words.

Interactive reading sessions further support vocabulary growth. When paired with guided questions, reading becomes a space for exploring word meanings, relationships, and usage. Reading with a student allows for in-the-moment clarification and models effective strategies for working through unfamiliar language.

Creating an Inclusive Classroom Environment for Students With SLI

Structured peer interactions allow children with SLI to practice skills in a guided, supportive setting. Here are some classroom activities and adjustments to try:

• Interactive Questioning: Create conversations where students feel safe answering
• Classroom Modifications: Foster a low-stress, collaborative environment
• Storytelling: Encourage creative language use with different tenses and adjectives
• Simon Says and I-Spy: Promote verbal interaction and peer bonding
• Role-Playing Games: Expand vocabulary through themed play
• Modeling Conversations: Teach greetings, turn-taking, and topic maintenance 

FAQs About Specific Language Impairment

Understanding SLI can be challenging, especially when symptoms overlap with other developmental concerns. These FAQs address common questions to help clarify SLI.

How is SLI different from other language disorders?

SLI has no clear external cause. While other disorders may result from brain injury or neurological conditions, children with SLI struggle only with language. 

What types of classroom accommodations help students with SLI?

Accommodations for children with SLI include visual aids, extended time, and peer support. Visual aids clarify instructions and boost confidence, while extended time and check-ins help them process information at their own pace.

What is an example of a language impairment?

Noah, a 5-year-old, struggles with grammar and forming sentences. Instead of saying “He is going to the park,” he says, “He go park.” Compared to his peers, his vocabulary is limited, and he struggles with multistep directions like “Put your coat on and then wait by the front door.” Despite normal hearing and intelligence, his challenges in using and understanding language indicate a language impairment.

Is Specific Language Impairment Autism?

A child can have both SLI and Autism. SLI is specifically a language issue, whereas autism affects the border areas of development and often has characteristics like difficulty with social cues or eye contact.

What is the difference between SLI and DLD?

SLI and DLD both refer to language difficulties with no clear cause. DLD recognizes that language difficulties can exist alongside other conditions like autism or intellectual disabilities. SLI suggests that only language is affected.

Next Steps: Building a Support Network for Children With SLI

When SLI is suspected, collaboration with a licensed speech-language pathologist is an essential first step. These professionals can offer a range of strategies and interventions to support language development and academic growth. With more than four decades of effective intervention solutions, Voyager Sopris Learning® has been at the forefront of applying science to reading-based strategies. 

Sound Partners, designed for one-on-one tutoring, offers direct, systematic support in foundational reading skills. Through research-based strategies, Sound Partners is a proven effective solution that is rated ESSA Tier 1 Strong in reading instruction with numerous reviews and follow-up studies confirming its efficacy. Through scaffolded practice in phoneme segmenting, it builds decoding, word identification, and spelling skills. Sound Partners integrates these skills into storybook reading practice, applying word-reading strategies in context, and includes oral reading sessions to reinforce learning.

One comprehensive intervention option is LANGUAGE!^®—an intensive literacy curriculum designed for students ages 3 to 12 who are reading two or more levels below grade. Its explicit, systematic approach integrates foundational literacy skills, vocabulary, grammar, and writing, and has been shown to accelerate growth in students with language-based challenges.