Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

A child psychologist, Kenneth Grizzle, PhD, and a developmental pediatrician, Mark Simms, MD, MPH, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, have combined their talents to produce an important, practical addition to the literature on children's language and learning. Recent community-based studies suggest that these common disorders affect between 12% and 18% of children, if children with other disabilities are not excluded from the sample. Drs. Grizzle and Simms thoroughly review some expressive and receptive language disorders, including disorders of reading, focusing on the “most broadly accepted model of reading,” the Connectionist Model. They also note the importance of distinguishing between “delays, differences, and disorders of speech and language” and the developmental sequelae of language disorders. Following a brief overview of the relation between language and math skills (yes, there does appear to be an association), the authors address an area that has always perplexed me: the efficacy of the treatment of these disorders. The primary care clinician can add language difficulties to what seems to be a growing list of common chronic childhood health conditions early in the twenty-first century. This issue is an invaluable guide for primary care clinicians who strive to provide high-quality health care for these children and their families.