a pinch of SaLT

First thing’s first Hannah, what is it?

Developmental language disorder, or DLD as you may know it, is a diagnosis given to young people who experience significant difficulties with language. This can be problematic if children are do not receive adequate support in environments where language use is vital – such as in classrooms and the playground. Like most developmental disorders, this can take many forms and is unique to every individual.

What things might a child find difficult?

Understanding instructions
Remembering what has just been said
Reading stories
Writing down ideas
Talking
Being understood by others

Someone with DLD may be very severely affected and may really struggle to get their point across or understand others, whilst another person with DLD may have less severe problems, but it is important that every child understands that it is not their fault and there are strategies available to help with language. It can be hard to understand what it might feel like to have DLD when using language is so intuitive to most of us, but a way to imagine it is if one day everyone was communicating in a bizarre mixture of sign language, French and Klingon.

You can imagine that you might grasp some signs – you might know the odd French word “chocolat?”, maybe you’ve watched enough Star Trek to know a bit of Klingon, but overall, it would be quite hard to navigate - especially when things are happening very fast or someone tells you lots of things at once.

For example, I’m sure you know how to make a sandwich, but try following these instructions…

Respectez toujours les consignes d'hygiène lorsque vous manipulez de la nourriture, n'oubliez pas qu'il y a partout des germes. Lavez-vous les mains avant de commencer.

Choisissez le pain - Il existe différentes sortes de pains qui contiennent des céréales entières au lieu de plusieurs sortes de céréales (multigrains). Ce sont les meilleurs pains à choisir si vous voulez rester en bonne santé, car les pains multigrains n'ont pas plus de bénéfices nutritionnels que les pains normaux.
Choisissez vos condiments - Le rôle des condiments est de rendre le pain plus moelleux. Ils ne sont pas nécessaires, mais ils peuvent vraiment ajouter de la saveur et de la texture au sandwich.
Choisissez la garniture - Vous pouvez aussi mettre d'autres ingrédients comme de la salade aux œufs, des œufs frits, des piments, du beurre de cacahouètes, de la gelée, de la sauce béarnaise ou du Nutella.
Mangez le sandwich froid ou faites cuire le sandwich

Depending on your level of French and knowledge of sandwich making, I’m guessing that was a little tough, but you probably guessed your way through most of it – and had I presented you with these instructions, two slices of bread, some butter and jam, I reckon you would have been able to present me with a perfectly delectable jam sandwich.

The thing is, many children with DLD get by using their brainy powers and have special avoidance or coping strategies. This is both tiring and frustrating.

I’m guessing that making that sandwich, you might be a bit unsure of yourself – was there somewhere in there that told you I would be horribly offended if you sliced them into triangles over oblongs?! Getting through each day can be stressful, and stress can make us behave in all kinds of ways. It can make us cross, impatient, snappy, anxious, and fed up. Feeling those things can cause children to lose their temper, give up on difficult work, get bored, be shy, become violent, or seek attention in other ways. Spotting a child who has DLD and needs support with language goes beyond their reading and writing – look to behaviour for subtle signs as well.

What kind of support is available?

When you know a child has DLD there are services, strategies and resources available to support them. First of all there’s speech and language therapy. Speech and language therapists can work with children alone or in small groups, or can show teaching staff how to help in classrooms and in the playground. It’s important to go at the child’s pace, and to reassure them. Part of therapy is about building their confidence to keep persevering with something that is very difficult, but that may seem to come so easily to everyone else around them. Tough, huh?

What should we be doing to help as therapists, parents and students?

Part of what we need to do is raise awareness. We need kids to know that they’re not alone and that there is a bright future ahead. We need parents to know that there is help and support available. We want teachers to be spotting the signs so that children can get support as soon as possible. And we want everyone to know that it’s nothing to be ashamed of – if we are more accepting and teach our kids to embrace diversity and be a little patient with others, to encourage everyone to join in games, to stand up to nastiness and to be kind in the playground, we’d all be looking at a brighter future made up of well-rounded individuals.

Not just for those who have DLD but for everyone. We all have strengths, we all find things difficult but we all have hidden talents – and the ability to be kind!

October 19th 2018 is DLD Awareness Day.

DLD could be viewed as a hidden disability as you cannot tell by looking at someone if they have it. So my personal challenge to you, for DLD Awareness day is to… make tonight’s diner using a recipe in French, or, learn 1 fact about DLD (hint: https://radld.org/) and share it with a friend, why not both?

What else should we do?

Remember to tweet using #DevLangDis #DLDABC

Remember to be kind.

PS. From us at A Pinch of SaLT: you can also check out our other blog post with some free resources on DLD Awareness Day here.