Communication disorders may be biological or environmental.

Biological causes of disorders are many like disorders that start in the nervous system or in the muscles. Environmental disorders they don't know the cause of. Some examples are dysfluent speech (stuttering) and phonological disorders.

They can also be classified by identifying when the disorder occurred (before birth or well after birth).

• Physical problems such as a problem in brain development

• Exposure to poisons (toxins) during pregnancy, such as street drugs or lead

• Gene problems

I. Observation- it is noticed by a parent, teacher, or medical professional that the child is having difficulty understanding or using language. The child may not be in the normal range of typical milestones related to communication skills.

II. Screening- The student may be hesitant to participate in verbal classroom work. There may be a history of middle ear infection, or have limited vision.

III. Prereferral- The teacher would model speech sounds, expands language, asks open-ended questions. If the child was identified before school the parents should share that with the team.

IV. Referral- This is the next step if all other interventions are not having the desired outcome. This would also be necessary if the impairments continued to get worse.

V. Nondiscriminatory evaluations procedures and standards- speech and language tests

• articulation, phonology, language sample, speech sample, oral motor functioning, receptive language and expressive language.

• anecdotal records, direct observations, and curriculum based assessments

VI. Determination- Decision made by nondiscriminatory evaluation team. IEP team develops appropriate education options for the student