[Impressive (sensory) alalia].

Receptive language disorder [F80.2 ICD=10] is the most severe children's language disorder: the child with normal intellect and hearing does not start to comprehend the speech of others and as a consequence - to speak. The etiology is unknown, the prognosis unfavorable. The profound study of the syndrome is necessary for the clarification of diagnostic criteria and creation of the system of adequate medical and pedagogical help, and also in the theoretical aspect. We performed an analysis of the symptomatology and progress of the syndrome (17 children of 2-10 years of age) based on data of onto-, neuro- and psycholinguistics. The analysis reveals two variants of the course of the syndrome; it clarifies behavioral diagnostic criteria and substantiates principal directions of the pedagogical work aimed at habilitation. Also, we discuss possible nature of the brain damage, which in our opinion can help planning medical research.