Through our study of two instances in the implementation of oral language, occurring first when the mother-child bonds are secured, and later when the child is confronted with fundamental school lessons, we present some of the established stakes concerning language and linguistic symbolic function. The clinical observation of children with learning disabilities is questioned from the point of view of the experience of a specialized consultation center (centre de référence) for language disorders, and compared with an array of theoretical contributions : psychological, medical, psychoanalytical and literary.