\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSix-year-old Antoni, born in the UK to Polish parents, speaks only a few English words in class and often looks confused when the teacher gives instructions. He could simply be adjusting to English \u2013 or the problem could be developmental language disorder (DLD), a condition that severely impairs a child\u2019s ability to learn, use and understand spoken language.<\/p>\n
Such challenges are increasingly common for parents and teachers. In England, for example, around 21% of schoolchildren are growing up with a first language other than English. While most children\u2019s language development \u2013 whether monolingual or multilingual \u2013 is typical, the average classroom includes two DLD-affected children. DLD\u2019s prevalence, roughly 8%, is similar worldwide, from China to Mexico.<\/p>\n
Even so, DLD remains under-recognised and under-served \u2013 especially compared to other developmental conditions, such as dyslexia, autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).<\/p>\n
Identifying DLD in multilingual children can be difficult. Each language a child learns develops at its own pace, depending on factors such as how often they hear and use it. For example, multilingual children may temporarily lag behind their monolingual peers in vocabulary in one language, but this should not be mistaken for DLD.<\/p>\n
Children with DLD show problems across all their languages and need specialist help. In contrast, those with typically developing language only struggle in the language they need more exposure to, like English at school.<\/p>\n
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DLD support should include all a child\u2019s languages (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLearning two or more languages promotes linguistic, social and cognitive strengths in all children. Contrary to longstanding myths that multilingualism harms language development, learning multiple languages does not cause or exacerbate DLD. Support for DLD should sustain all of a child\u2019s languages, as these are critical for wellbeing, identity and family relationships.<\/p>\n
The impact of DLD is lifelong and extends far beyond language. It has consequences for mental health, socialisation, literacy, academic performance, and quality of life. Accurate, timely diagnosis and support are essential, not just for individual life chances, but also for society. Adults with DLD are more likely to have difficulty getting a job and have a criminal record.<\/p>\n
Addressing DLD<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n These are key signs that a multilingual child may be at risk for DLD, suggesting an approach to a speech and language therapist. These if they:<\/p>\n
\n
\nare slower to say first words, or put words together, than siblings <\/li>\n struggle to understand what others say or follow instructions <\/li>\n have trouble expressing thoughts or telling stories <\/li>\n rely excessively on gestures (like pointing) to communicate instead of words <\/li>\n are slower to learn English in school than peers with similar age, cultural and linguistic backgrounds <\/li>\n struggle to interact with children who speak the same languages. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\nFollowing referral, speech and language therapists gather information from parents, teachers, tests and other sources, aiming to understand the child\u2019s abilities in all their languages.<\/p>\n
In linguistically diverse countries, there are still considerable obstacles, however. UK-based speech and language therapists, for example, still lack reliable tools to equally assess English and the children\u2019s additional languages. With few speech and language therapists having multilingual proficiency, and a shortage of appropriately trained interpreters, DLD can be missed \u2013 or typical multilingual development mislabelled as disordered \u2013 thus delaying or misdirecting support.<\/p>\n\nAbout the authors<\/h2>\nTeresa Garrido-Tamayo is a Visiting Researcher in Speech and Language Sciences at Newcastle University.<\/p>\n
Carolyn Letts is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University.<\/p>\n
Laurence White is a Reader in Speech Science at Newcastle University.<\/p>\n
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Progress is being made, with promising new tools like the UK bilingual toddlers assessment tool and the language impairment testing in multilingual settings battery. The former uses two-year-olds\u2019 vocabulary in British English and their other language, alongside their exposure to each language, to determine whether their language development may be at risk.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Litmus battery includes tools for assessing the language skills of multilingual children from a range of ages and language backgrounds, such as phonological memory and storytelling.<\/p>\n
More recently, our team is developing a dynamic assessment resource at Newcastle University that uses enjoyable activities to detect DLD. It explores multilingual children\u2019s learning potential \u2013 not just their existing skills \u2013 in language and communication areas affected by the condition, such as telling stories or recognising emotions in people\u2019s voices.<\/p>\n
Detecting DLD is the first step. Support from family, schools and speech and language therapists can then transform a multilingual child\u2019s life outcomes, helping them grow up healthier and happier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Six-year-old Antoni, born in the UK to Polish parents, speaks only a few English words in class and often looks confused when the teacher gives instructions. He could simply be adjusting to English \u2013 or the problem could be developmental language disorder (DLD), a condition that severely impairs a child\u2019s ability to learn, use and understand spoken language. Such challenges are increasingly common for parents and teachers. In England, for example, around 21% of schoolchildren are growing up with a first language other than English. While most children\u2019s language development \u2013 whether monolingual or multilingual \u2013 is typical, the average classroom includes two DLD-affected children. DLD\u2019s prevalence, roughly 8%, is similar worldwide, from China to Mexico. Even so, DLD remains under-recognised and under-served \u2013 especially compared to other developmental conditions, such as dyslexia, autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Identifying DLD in multilingual children can be difficult. Each language a chi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}