Sleep Disorders as a Risk to Language Learning and Use

Are people with sleep disorders at higher risk for language learning deficits than healthy sleepers?

Scoping Review.

PubMed, Google Scholar, Trip Database, ClinicalTrials.gov.

sleep disorders AND language AND learning; sleep disorders language learning -deprivation -epilepsy; sleep disorders AND verbal learning.

36.

Children and adults with sleep disorders were at a higher risk for language problems than healthy sleepers. The language problems typically co-occurred with problems of attention and executive function (in children and adults), behavior (in children), and visual-spatial processing (in adults). Effects were typically small. Language problems seldom rose to a level of clinical concern but there were exceptions involving phonological deficits in children with sleep-disordered breathing and verbal memory deficits among adults with sleep-disordered breathing or idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder.

Case history interviews should include questions about limited sleep, poor-quality sleep, snoring, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Medical referrals for clients with suspected sleep disorders are prudent.