To help young school-age children with DLD, we need to foster strengths and abilities to counter the challenges
The big picture:
We spend a lot of time talking about the impairments of young school-age children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). But that’s not the whole story.
Challenges:
DLD is not a gift or a superpower. DLD:
- affects the learning, understanding and expression of spoken and written language;
- affects functioning in everyday social, community, and academic activities (because they require language skills);
- makes it harder to forge and maintain friendships; and
- often contributes to communication avoidance and frustration in everyday life.
Strengths and abilities:
As a group, young school-age children with DLD present with strengths, including with:
- domestic and personal aspects of daily living (e.g. chores, bathing, dressing);
- play and coping aspects of socialisation (e.g. sharing toys and good sportsmanship); and
- gross motor function.
Zoom in:
Parents of young school-age children with DLD and other caregivers frequently express pride in their children’s abilities to:
- maintain caring relationships with family members (e.g. with siblings);
- help and empathise with others (e.g. parents, teachers, classmates);
- behave well without prompting; and
- overcome internal obstacles (like shyness or frustration) to give things a go.
Why it matters:
- Many young school-age children with DLD exhibit lots of positive behaviours that show kindness, bravery, resilience, and a desire to take charge of their own lives.
- We should support young children with DLD to use their abilities to counter some of the negative effects of DLD.
How to help:
Encourage young school-age children with DLD to:
- use their strengths, e.g., with helpful chores at home, team sports, community volunteering, ordering things in shops (see links for some practical suggestions); and
- back themselves to keep working on goals that require communication skills, e.g., by:
- creating or choosing settings in which they feel safe to take risks with learning and talking, and to practice talking with others; and
- providing explicit and scaffolded support to improve spoken and written language skills required for longer-term social, school, work, and life success.
Go deeper:
McGregor, K.K., Ohlmann, N., Eden, N., Arbisi-Kelm, T., and Young, A. (2023). Abilities and Disabilities Among Children With Developmental Language Disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 54, 927–951 (Open access)
Read more:
Get out there! Being social and kind to others makes kids happier
Help for Disorganised Students
This article also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists, speech pathology students and others.
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Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.
Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language
Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.
