Language development delay is when a child's language acquisition and understanding develops too late, too slowly and incompletely compared to their age group. This affects vocabulary and language comprehension as well as articulation and grammar. The extent to which the individual areas are affected can vary greatly. Language development disorders are often accompanied by concentration or perception disorders and delays in general development.

Limited vocabulary and language comprehension disorder

The vocabulary of children with language development delays is too small compared to children of the same age. They are often unable to name familiar things. They often use terms that are not age-appropriate, such as /woof/ for /dog/.

If language comprehension is limited, the child does not understand the meaning of many words or sentences that linguistically normal children grasp without difficulty. Children can often compensate for this in everyday life by deciphering the facial expressions and gestures of the person they are communicating with. Due to this fact, parents often do not notice their child's speech comprehension difficulties.

Articulation disorders: see dyslalia

Grammatical acquisition disorders: see dysgrammatism