Discussions in speech and language pathology often contain references to language differences and the ways these differences compare with speech and language disorders. There is ongoing research on the regional varieties of English, and within the past decade, information on social and ethnic variation in language has been accumulating. Based on the research, some of the issues of interest to speech pathologists are addressed in this booklet: (1) how a clinician might deal with reference to a local dialect when there is no available description or summary of the main characteristics of the dialect; (2) the age level when dialect differences emerge in the speech of young children, and the similarities these differences bear to structures found in certain stages of development of children speaking standard English; (3) the tendency of children who speak nonstandard varieties of English to score lower on tests of speech and language development than their standard English speaking counterparts, and the question of whether these children are learning their language at a slower rate than children who come from mainstream, standard English speaking communities; and (4) remediation strategies and dialect differences, including the question of the approach to therapy and treating dialect differences as if they were disorders. Lists of references are included. (Author/AMH)