Disorder VS Delay

The order in which children learn speech sounds and language forms is fairly predictable. Most children follow the same pattern of development. When a child is developing skills in this order but is doing it more slowly, he/she has a speech/language delay. Sometimes child does not have the same speech or language skills as other children his/her age and is not just slow in developing. They have gaps in development - they may have some skills that are age-appropriate but are missing some that should have been learned when they were younger. They may say use some sounds or forms that are unusual and never used by any child at any age. This is considered a disorder.