Many children with SLCN show withdrawn social interaction
styles, which means they are less likely to initiate
conversation, they play alone more and are less liked by
others in their class. Others display significant behaviour
difficulties, which can equally alienate their peers.
Children with SLCN perceive they are at risk of being the
target of bullies at school. It has been found that if a child has
good communication skills and is able express feelings through
facial expression they tend to be more popular. SLCN can
have a devastating effect on interpersonal relationships, within
the family, with peers and in the longer term.
Emotional development and behaviour
Language and emotional development occur together in
children and affect each other powerfully. This shared
development is evident with very young children as they
learn about different emotions through play.
In the early stages of primary school, children learn to share
their feelings in words, consider the effects of their actions,
reflect on and plan what they feel, do and say. All of this
requires an appreciation of the emotions and thoughts of
other people, and the language to put this into words.
There are opportunities in school and in the playground to
play and interact through language, which allows children to
develop skills in managing their emotions and behaviour
appropriately. With developed language skills, children can
negotiate their roles in play situations, organise activities,
clarify their thoughts to others and make it clear when they
are unhappy with a situation. For older primary school
children, these skills are necessary for team games and
group activities within the classroom.
Children with SLCN often do not have these skills and
abilities, resulting at times in frustration and behaviour that is
seen as poor, in reaction to situations that could be easily
resolved through language. Unfortunately, often the
behaviour of children is seen as the difficulty and the
underlying language difficulties can seem less important or
can be missed completely.
There is increasing evidence for a link between SLCN and
emotional and behavioural problems. Several longitudinal
studies have found that children with an early diagnosis of
language or communication difficulties are more likely to have
behavioural difficulties than their peers and that these
problems can increase with age. In addition, studies
investigating children with identified behaviour difficulties, found
that three quarters of them had significant language deficits.
However, it is important to distinguish between different kinds
of BESD as each may show different patterns; also behaviour
does not exist in a vacuum and children may show different
patterns of behaviour at home and school.
Self-esteem
Feeling self confident is vitally important for children in primary
schools. However, there is evidence that older primary-aged
children with SLCN perceive themselves more negatively in
scholastic competence, social acceptance and behavioural
conduct than children with typical language development,
although this low self-esteem is not so apparent in younger
children.76 Implications of these studies suggest that with
prolonged language difficulties, children’s underlying selfesteem and self worth suffers, which can have a huge impact
on their future lives and development.