Individuals are not spontaneously born with social language aptitude; the skills mature over time with development beginning at birth.  If the skills do not develop normally, or a brain injury has occurred, individuals will have difficulty with all aspects of social language – social language disorder.  

 

Nonverbal skills such as eye gaze, joint attention, facial expressions, body posture, personal space, and gestures may be insufficient in individuals with social language disorder.  They may have difficulty appropriately requesting information, conveying information and clarifying themselves and are challenged to appropriately express attitudes, emotions and the regulation of social interaction. Conversational skills such as responding and acknowledging others, turn-taking, and topic maintenance are challenging as is the act of verbally entering a social situation and monitoring the social cues of others.