[Attention for language; atypical language development and psychiatric symptoms in children]

Children with a neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder often have language difficulties. A large group of children has severely impaired language learning abilities in the absence of a clear cause. These children have developmental language disorder (DLD). Many children with DLD also develop psychiatric symptoms which are associated with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder.

In this article, we provide information on children with DLD, on the often atypical language development of children with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorder, and on the mechanisms that may explain the co-occurrence of language problems and psychiatric symptoms.

We discuss relevant literature and insights from clinical practice.

Psychiatric symptoms can hinder language development and, vice versa, children with language problems are more vulnerable to develop behavior associated with a psychiatric diagnosis. Given the frequent co-occurrence of language problems and psychiatric symptoms in children, there is a high chance that a psychiatrist will encounter children with language difficulties in daily clinical practice.

Knowledge and awareness of this co-occurrence benefits clinical care, and has important implications for diagnosis and intervention of children with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders.