Expressive language disorder (ELD) is usually a childhood disorder and it usually manifests itself during the grade school years because that is when the child is most likely going to start communicating with other children his age on a consistent basis. There are actually two different types of the disorder. The first comes without any known cause and can manifest itself without any real type of warning. The other type of ELD actually occurs after a traumatic brain injury thanks to blunt force trauma or some other catastrophic event. Acquired ELD can also occur after someone suffers a stroke, though obviously that particular ELD is not occurring very often in school age children.
Developmental ELD is the type that generally shows up in students and children and can very much get in the way of learning and interacting with their fellow students and teachers. Imagine you understand exactly the question you want to ask of your teacher and yet you simply cannot get the words out. Now imagine that you are out on the playground trying to enjoy recess but you cannot play with the other children because they don’t understand what you are trying to tell them. This is the problem many students with ELD face.
Generally speaking, fixing developmental ELD can be done with extensive therapy with a speech therapist. Eventually a therapist can explain to the child several different tricks that will allow them to express themselves in a way that allows them to get along in school. Eventually developmental ELD can be overcome completely and put aside like it was a very bad cold. Of course Acquired ELD’s prognosis is much worse because the onset is usually triggered by actual physical damage to the brain. While treatment may eventually make the Acquired ELD manageable, there is seldom a real cure for this type of disorder.
