Semin Speech Lang 2016; 37(04): 274-279
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1587705
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Language Disorders in Adolescents: Current Needs and Future Directions

Marilyn A. Nippold
1   Communication Disorders and Sciences Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
04 October 2016 (online)

Abstract

Adolescents with developmental language disorders often do not receive the type of intervention that would improve their ability to speak, listen, read, and write effectively. Part of the problem is that many of these young people show no obvious symptoms of a language disorder, yet they struggle on a daily basis to succeed at school-related tasks that require a sophisticated level of language development. This article discusses some of the challenges these students face and makes suggestions for what could be done to address the issues. These suggestions include continuing the effort to advocate strongly for the rights of adolescents, increasing collaboration between speech-language pathologists and other professionals in the schools, and making changes to training programs in communication sciences and disorders to better prepare future speech-language pathologists to work with adolescents.