When a child talks late it may be a sign of a disability. As a child goes from age two and becomes three or four years old, they have an incredible number of ways to tell adults what they want or need. Even if words do not sound right, a developing child will make efforts to communicate and make their point effectively. Children ask a number of questions. Children who do not ask questions or tell adults what it is that they want or need may have a communication disorder. Children with a language impairment may not talk until they are almost two years old; by age three they may talk but cannot be understood. As they grow they will struggle with learning new words, making conversation and sounding intelligible. (Disabled World)

A child's reading and learning are affected by a language impairment. Specific Language Impairment affects a child's academic success, particularly if it remains untreated. Forty to seventy-five percent of children have difficulty with learning to read. (Disabled World)

“Language refers to the code, or symbol system, for transforming unobservable mental events, such as thoughts and memories, into events that can be perceived by other people. Being a competent language user requires two essential capabilities. One, known as expressive language or language production, is the ability to encode one's ideas into language forms and symbols. The other, known as receptive language or language comprehension, is the ability to understand the meanings that others have expressed using language. People commonly express themselves by speaking and understand others' meanings by listening. However, language also can be expressed and understood in other ways—for example, by reading, writing, and signing” (Crystal, 2009).

Speech refers specifically to sounds produced by the oral mechanism, including the lips, tongue, vocal cords, and related structures (Caruso and Strand, 1999). 

Speech therapy can include activities of role-play/symbolic play to build layers of language experiences.