Strategies for Teaching Students With Developmental Language Disorder

Jules Daulby

How better awareness of Developmental Language Disorder can help teachers support the quiet strugglers often misunderstood in our classrooms.

Often coined the Cinderella learning need, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a difficulty affecting talking (expressive language) and understanding (receptive language).

The reason for the Cinderella term is that, despite its prevalence, DLD is relatively unknown and certainly unrecognised in the classroom. One million children have DLD and you’ve probably never heard of it. It’s thought to affect 7% of the population and there will be a high number with DLD who are excluded from school and in the prison population sadly.

Furthermore, compared to autism and dyslexia, DLD has very little funding for research meaning less is known about this language difficulty. It was a revelation to me when I learned more about DLD and it made a lot of sense for children I taught in a secondary mainstream school.

Any training I do on DLD now welcomes nods from teachers who can think of a couple of students they teach with the traits I describe. Like dyslexia and autism, DLD is thought to be genetic and is a standalone impairment but due to the lack of knowledge around this difficulty, fewer children are identified.

Behaviours in the classroom can be subtle; often quiet which can be misinterpreted as truculent. They may nod along and give good eye contact but then won’t start the task.

A strategy students with DLD often use is to ask their neighbour. As soon as you finish talking, they turn to their peer and whisper, ‘what have we got to do?’. Seating plans where pupils are not allowed to sit with their friends can be punitive for these children as they may be too embarrassed to ask a peer who they don’t know so well.

Additionally, if they are sitting with peers they are comfortable to ask, they may get a warning for talking or, what behaviour policies commonly call, ‘low level disruption’.

Another trait which seems counterintuitive to the much-described quiet pupil is when he or she is very chatty but talks around a subject without making much sense. Additionally, students with DLD are often good at masking their difficulties, coming across as inattentive or shrugging, unable to tell you that they haven’t understood.

You can see why these children hit the exclusion figures.

At break time, a fight breaks out, the articulate and fast processors among the group have either argued their case to the teacher or run off. The child with DLD is left, having struggled to process the situation quickly and then is unable to understand the shouting teacher nor able to express what happened.  They then become frustrated and either swear or walk off.

Again, it is easy to see why these children hit the exclusion figures. As adults, they’re in the courtroom and the legal teams are asking questions, so many questions and so fast. They can’t process and can’t talk back quickly enough or clarity. They come across as shifty or guilty. You can see how people with DLD can end up in prison.

I paint a bleak picture but it doesn’t need to be like this.  With speech and language input, early identification and reasonable adjustments in school, these children can be supported to make progress.

In the same way as children with dyslexia and autism; with some minor changes and supporting strategies, barriers can be removed to enable success. If teachers can understand them and make the necessary changes, it will make the world of difference.

They will also thrive in a consistent, slow and calm environment where they can ask trusted peers questions and work quietly with visuals and chunked tasks. Too much information at a fast pace is likely to overwhelm them to the point of shut down.

These children may come across as lazy, underachieving and possibly grumpy. The reality however is that they are likely to be working much harder than their peers, struggling with constant miscommunication and without the right support. They may become increasingly frustrated unless experiences can create pockets of success and progress.

How can you identify these children?

Afasic (The Association of All Speech Impaired Children) list the following traits:

• Doesn’t talk very much
• Uses immature language
• Struggles to find the right words and/or
• Doesn’t seem to understand other people

Afasic also list ten things a child may struggle with if they have DLD:

• Expressing ideas
• Vocabulary (learning new words)
• Following instructions
• Conversation
• Making sense
• Concentrating
• Reading and writing
• Behaviour
• Friendship and play
• Confidence

For older pupils, they have an excellent poster sectioned into four parts:

Understanding, vocabulary, putting words together / telling stories and interacting with others. It has common traits under these headings for three age groups: by 11, by 13-14, and by 18. It’s well worth reading this if you want to find out more but some of the headlines are that pupils with DLD may speak in short sentences, struggle to follow a complex story line, will take things literally and find sarcasm difficult to pick up.

Things you can do to help:

• As with all learners, repetition helps memory. It is even more important for a child with DLD.
• Visuals to support the oral or written word. This can help with the meaning.
• Leave a pause after questions. This allows for processing time.
• Don’t ask the same question in a different way until you’re sure you’ve left enough time for them to process and understand. Otherwise you’ve just given them even more words to process.
• Economy of language. Fewer words will help them understand.
• Teach subject specific language explicitly. Frayer models, word derivation, associations, make up of word (syllables and phonemes) all help to build a deeper understanding of vocabulary.
• Keep carrier language simple. If a pupil needs to know subject language then the carrier language can be simplified to ensure they concentrate on the right thing. If you want them to know how to measure a bridge – measure is the word they need to learn – keep it simple.
• Pair with a trusted friend or peer on the seating plan. They need the support of their friends.
• If they are talking, check that they are asking questions rather than ‘low level disruption’. Don’t punish them if they are on task but need clarification.
• Ensure a calm and quiet environment where possible.
• If doing group work, remember they may become overwhelmed so try to give them the quietest and smallest group (again, with trusted peers).
• Break down the information, chunk with visuals, allow processing time.
• Always assume they are trying but haven’t understood.
• If they appear rude, it’s likely a miscommunication or frustration.
• Remember, everything is harder in a world built around oracy when you have a language disorder. They’re not being lazy, they’re probably trying harder than everyone else.
• The older a child with DLD gets, the more frequent a failure cycle can become embedded if they haven’t been identified and no strategies have been put in place. They may appear guarded and/or appear to give up easily. This is likely to be because of previous experiences.  Work with them slowly and build up their confidence gradually.  If they trust you, they will be less fearful of failure.
• If really risk averse (built up by years of failure in the school system), try error free learning to begin. An example is giving them lots of maths tasks which you know they can easily complete. Then introduce new concepts slowly and carefully to ensure their confidence continues to build.
• As always with students who have additional needs, knowing them and building a trusting relationship is often key. Give them time, inclusive strategies and a smile. This will mean so much to them in an environment which can be unfriendly and challenging.

The best places and people to read on DLD

Afasic https://afasic.org

RADLD https://radld.org

NAPLIC https://naplic.org.uk/dld

Speech and Language UK https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/educators-and-professionals/dld-educational-support/

Stephen Parsons & Anna Branagan both speech and language therapists raising awareness of DLD. Word Aware/Concept Cat (an Education Endowment Fund research project)

Dr Susan Ebbels

Professor Courtenay Norbury

Professor Dorothy Bishop