When different disciplines converge on the study of a set of phenomena, one of several things can happen. In one scenario, these disciplines can begin to embrace the concepts, theories and methodologies of those fields of enquiry that are concerned to explain the same phenomena. The result is a genuinely interdisciplinary enquiry which leads to theoretical and other gains that were not realised within any single discipline. In another scenario, the same disciplines can acknowledge shared explanatory interests and can even engage with the concepts and frameworks of neighbouring areas of enquiry. However, to all intents and purposes, there is only the appearance of interdisciplinary enquiry and research proceeds largely along disciplinary lines. In yet another scenario, individual disciplines operate alongside each other with little interest in how other fields of enquiry are attempting to explain essentially the same phenomena. For much of the thirty-year history of clinical pragmatics, the disciplines that have come together to give rise to this field of study (largely pragmatics and language pathology) have displayed the characteristics of the second and third scenarios outlined above. The result has been considerable disarray, with clinical studies undertaken more often than not because they can be done, not because they should be done. No one has gained from this situation, least of all our child and adult clients with pragmatic disorders.

This book addresses what is currently known about a range of pragmatic disorders in children and adults. Pragmatic disorders are now a significant area of clinical language study.