Receptive language is a measurement of how we understand spoken or written language. Impaired receptive language skills can mean poor language comprehension and can negatively affect how a person follows along in conversation, answers questions, follows directions, or understands descriptive concepts such as location, time, and quantity. Having strong receptive language skills can help the development of expressive language skills. Poor receptive language skills may be evident if the following occurs:

• Difficulty following simple and/or complex directions (e.g., “get the red socks from the second drawer”?)
• There seems to be two different conversations occurring
• Directions and questions need to be repeated or rephrased several times
• Visual aids are required to follow verbal communication
• Requests and/or questions are answered incorrectly or are not answered at all