BOX 3DSM-IV Criteria for Speech or Language Delay (315.31 and 315.39)
315.31 Expressive Language Disorder
- A.
The scores obtained from standardized individually administered measures of expressive language development are substantially below those obtained from standardized measures of both nonverbal intellectual capacity and receptive language development. The disturbance may be manifest clinically by symptoms that include having a markedly limited vocabulary, making errors in tense, or having difficulty recalling words or producing sentences with developmentally appropriate length or complexity.
- B.
The difficulties with expressive language interfere with academic or occupational achievement or with social communication.
- C.
Criteria are not met for Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
- D.
If Mental Retardation, a speech-motor or sensory deficit, or environmental deprivation is present, the language difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with these problems.
315.31 Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
- A.
The scores obtained from a battery of standardized individually administered measures of both receptive and expressive language development are substantially below those obtained from standardized measures of nonverbal intellectual capacity. Symptoms include those for Expressive Language Disorder as well as difficulty understanding words, sentences, or specific types of words, such as spatial terms.
- B.
The difficulties with receptive and expressive language significantly interfere with academic or occupational achievement or with social communication.
- C.
Criteria are not met for a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
- D.
If Mental Retardation, a speech-motor or sensory deficit, or environmental deprivation is present, the language difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with these problems.
315.39 Phonological Disorder
- A.
Failure to use developmentally expected speech sounds that are appropriate for age and dialect (e.g., errors in sound production, use, representation, or organization such as, but not limited to, substitutions of one sound for another [use of /t/ for target /k/ sound] or omissions of sounds such as final consonants).
- B.
The difficulties in speech sound production interfere with academic or occupational achievement or with social communication.
- C.
If Mental Retardation, a speech-motor or sensory deficit, or environmental deprivation is present, the speech difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with these problems.
Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. Copyright 1994 American Psychiatric Association.
