speech therapy for language difficulties

People with language difficulties or disorders often struggles to think of the right word, or produce a sentence with correct grammar. They may have difficulties understanding other people, especially when too much is said at once. In conversations, they may often miss out on jokes or misunderstand their peers. These difficulties with speaking and listening often extend to reading and writing difficulties as they progress into upper primary and high school. 

Sometimes, language difficulties are associated with another condition. Some examples might include autism, hearing loss, intellectual disability, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or a genetic syndrome such as Down Syndrome. 

Other times, there may not be any obvious explanation for the cause of the language difficulties. People with developmental language disorder (DLD) have specific difficulties with learning and processing language. In Australia, 1 in 13 children have a developmental language disorder. That equates to approximately 2 children for every classroom. 

The DLD Project is an Australian-run organisation that focuses on advocacy work for developmental language disorder. A good starting point is their DLD fact sheet and evidence brief - which can be found here: https://thedldproject.com/families/resources-for-families/

The DLD Project also hosts a podcast with lots of information for families, clinicians, and other professionals. You can find the podcast here: https://thedldproject.com/developmental-language-disorder-dld/the-talking-dld-podcast/.

• Assessment

Language is a broad concept that can be broken down into many sub-domains. These may include vocabulary, grammar, narratives, figurative language, expressive / receptive language - to name just a few. A comprehensive language assessment can reveal specific areas of strength and weakness. A diagnosis of developmental language disorder or a referral to another professional for investigation of other diagnoses can be made if indicated. 

• Intervention

Intervention can look different for each person, and often depends on the person's age, severity of the language difficulties, and their meaningful everyday activities. Intervention often involves a combination of the following: 1) directly targeting specific language structures; 2) working towards using language in meaningful activities (e.g., participating in the school curriculum, applying for jobs, completing forms, understanding language used in driver's knowledge tests); 3) teaching the person to advocate for their communication needs in their everyday life; and 4) coaching the person's support network to make adjustments as needed.