Developmental Language Disorder: A Guide for Families
Receiving a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the beginning of a whole new journey for families. While a diagnosis can come with clarity, it also is the first step in getting the support and guidance you need to help your loved one to thrive! As Speech Pathologists, we’re passionate about supporting all of our clients to proudly shout to the world who they are, including those with DLD.
That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide for families – here you’ll find information on what Developmental Language Disorder is, and how you can support your loved ones with the condition.
We’d like to acknowledge the insights and resources provided by Shaun Ziegenfusz from The DLD Project – for more information on the condition as well as training and resources for families, take a look at The DLD Project website.
What is Developmental Language Disorder?
Developmental Language Disorder is a lifelong condition that impacts a person’s ability to acquire language and understand language used by others. As you can imagine, the condition can have an impact in many areas – schooling and education, socialising with others, and at work. Recent findings suggest that 1 in 14 people have DLD, and the condition is known to run in families. Most people with the condition are diagnosed in the school-aged years.
New data has also come to surface that has helped us to better understand the prevalence of Developmental Language Disorder in the UK (Norbury et al., 2016) and Australia (Calder et al., 2022). We can now confidently say that DLD impacts approximately 7% of the population or around 1.7 million Australians.
People with Developmental Language Disorder may experience difficulties with:
- understanding instructions
- answering questions
- learning new words
- putting words together to speak in sentences
- reading
- writing sentences
- playing with others
Often families can be overwhelmed when they hear DLD is a lifelong condition. By working together, we can create a future where people with DLD are understood and empowered.
Common Misconceptions About Developmental Language Disorder
Unfortunately, a common misconception that we come across is that people with DLD aren’t smart, capable, or trying their best. Here is what Shaun from The DLD Project has to say on the subject:
“I’ve been fortunate to work with and meet hundreds of people with DLD and I can say unequivocally they are absolutely working overtime to keep up with a world that does not give them an inch of slack. They are amazingly creative. They can learn at school when given the right supports. They are driven and hard workers.”
Supporting Your Child with Developmental Language Disorder
Parents and families play a key role in the diagnostic process and beyond. Whether it is in supporting the speech pathologist to gather information or providing information to their child’s early childhood or school setting.
As rewarding as the role of advocate and supporter can be, for parents and caregivers it is common to come across people who don’t know about Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or aren’t sure what to do to help. This may even occur at your child’s school. This can be a frustrating experience, but also a great opportunity to raise awareness and advocate for your child’s needs.
Advocating is not a one step process (unfortunately). It will often take many opportunities and interactions to develop a plan. You may then need to revisit your plan as your child changes teachers or transitions to high school where they have many teachers. Here is a helpful checklist from The DLD Project for helping you to be a proactive, knowledgeable and confident advocate for your child.
Helpful Resources for Families:
- A Family Guide to Understanding a Diagnosis of DLD https://thedldproject.com/a-family-guide-to-understanding-a-diagnosis-of-dld/ – it’s a free 30 min module to help answer some of the most frequently asked questions about DLD.
- Questions to ask your speech pathologist https://thedldproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Questions-to-ask-your-Speech-Pathologist-The-DLD-Project.pdf
- Get to know me template https://thedldproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/The_DLD_Project_-_Get_to_know_me_template.pdf – to help provide a brief summary about your child and DLD.
Please take a moment to tell three people about DLD (check out TheDLDProject.com and RADLD.org), because if you know 14 people then you definitely know someone with DLD – and the world needs to know about them!
Guest Author: Shaun Ziegenfusz
Shaun is the Co-Founder and Director of The DLD Project, a social enterprise focused on creating a world where people with DLD are recognised, understood, and empowered to live their best life. As a practising Speech Pathologist, Shaun has extensive experience working with young people and families in early childhood and school settings. He is an active member of Speech Pathology Australia, as well as an editorial committee member for the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech Language Pathology.
Shaun is proud to be an International Committee member for Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (RADLD) which has a reach into more than 30 countries globally. He is a Lecturer at Griffith University where he is also enrolled as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate where he combines his experience in speech pathology and education to research students with DLD.