Developmental language disorder

Also called DLD, Specific language impairment, SLI, Language disorder

Around two children in every class have a lifelong difficulty understanding or using language with no other cause; most have never been told.

What it is

Developmental language disorder is a persistent difficulty understanding or using spoken language that isn't explained by another condition such as autism, hearing loss or a learning disability. The Health A-Z has the condition as developmental language disorder. It affects roughly seven in a hundred children, which is about two in every classroom, and it doesn't go away in adulthood.

It's invisible. The child hears fine, speaks in sentences, and can seem simply inattentive or "a bit behind". What's happening is that language, the system of words and grammar and meaning, is harder for them to learn and use than it is for everyone else.

Who it can help

Children whose language is noticeably behind their peers at five and stays behind, teenagers who can't follow the lesson or write what they know, and adults who've always found reading, forms and fast conversation exhausting without knowing why.

It's not a delay that will catch up on its own, and it isn't a speech sound problem; a child with DLD may pronounce every word clearly and still not understand the instruction.

How it works

DLD affects any part of language: receptive language (understanding long or complex sentences), expressive language (finding words, building grammar, telling a story in order), or both. Vocabulary is often small and shallow: the child knows "dog" but not "pet" or "animal". Working memory for spoken instructions is short.

Support is about making language easier to get at rather than curing anything. Speech and language therapy targets specific skills, and the more effective part is teaching everyone around the child to adapt: shorter instructions, one at a time, with a visual alongside; time to answer; new words taught explicitly with a picture and used ten times. Approaches such as colourful semantics build sentence structure visibly.

The same adaptations carry into adult life: written summaries after meetings, plain language, and time.

Getting started

Ask the school what the child's language is like compared with their peers, not just their reading level. Request a speech and language therapy assessment through the school or GP and use the letters DLD when you do.

At home this week: give one instruction at a time, check it landed by asking the child to tell you what they'll do, and choose a word a day to teach properly. Read together and talk about the pictures more than the text.

For a teenager or adult, ask for reasonable adjustments in exams and at work: extra time, questions in plain language, instructions in writing.

Where to get help

RADLD, Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder, is the campaign that gave the condition its name and has plain explanations for every age. Afasic supports families of children with speech and language difficulties and runs a helpline, as does Speech and Language UK. NAPLIC is the professional association for people who teach children with language disorder. NHS speech and language therapy is via the GP or school.