Social language disorder or pragmatic language disorder, is a problem related to the social aspects of language use and understanding . Social language disorders manifest in the following ways:
Difficulty using language socially which includes
- understanding the environment
- reading non-verbal cues
- understanding non literal language such as jokes and sarcasm
Difficulty following the rules of conversation which includes
- maintaining appropriate eye contact
- using non verbal cues that are consistent with your verbal message
- greetings
- introducing a topic
- maintaining a topic
- appropriateness of topic and responses
Difficulty adjusting the use of language based on partner or environment which includes
- speaking with someone of a different age (young child vs someone the same age vs someone much older)
- speaking in a more formal setting (job interview) vs an informal setting (hanging out with friends)
Children with a social language disorder might
- Seem inappropriate, perhaps laughing at a sad event
- Miss parts of a conversation that has a lot of metaphors, sarcasm or other non-literal meaning
- Have difficulty adjusting their conversations for different settings
- Not read obvious non-verbal cues from someone they are speaking with
