In classrooms across the United Kingdom, children like six-year-old Antoni are struggling in silence. Born in the UK to Polish parents, Antoni speaks only a handful of English words and often appears confused by his teacher's instructions. While this could be part of a typical adjustment to a new language, it might also signal a serious but often overlooked condition: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
What is Developmental Language Disorder?
DLD is a lifelong condition that severely impairs a child's capacity to learn, use, and understand spoken language. Despite affecting roughly 8% of children—equating to about two children in every average classroom—it receives far less recognition than conditions like dyslexia, autism, or ADHD. This prevalence is consistent worldwide, from China to Mexico.
The challenge of identification is particularly acute in linguistically diverse nations like the UK. In England alone, around 21% of schoolchildren grow up with a first language other than English. For multilingual children, distinguishing between a temporary lag in acquiring a new language and the pervasive difficulties of DLD is complex. A child might temporarily have a smaller English vocabulary than monolingual peers, which is normal. However, children with DLD will exhibit problems across all the languages they speak.
Breaking Myths and Building Support
It is a critical misconception that learning multiple languages causes or worsens DLD. Research confirms that multilingualism promotes linguistic, social, and cognitive strengths. Therefore, support for a child with DLD must sustain all their languages, which are vital for their wellbeing, identity, and family connections.
The consequences of undiagnosed DLD extend far beyond the classroom. It has a profound lifelong impact on mental health, social skills, literacy, academic achievement, and overall quality of life. Adults with undiagnosed DLD face higher risks of unemployment and are more likely to have a criminal record.
Key Signs for Parents and Teachers
Experts advise that a multilingual child may be at risk for DLD and should be referred to a speech and language therapist if they:
- Are slower to say first words or combine words than their siblings were.
- Struggle to understand what others say or to follow instructions.
- Have trouble expressing thoughts or telling coherent stories.
- Rely excessively on gestures like pointing instead of words.
- Are slower to learn English in school than peers with similar linguistic exposure.
- Struggle to interact with children who speak the same languages.
The Path to Accurate Diagnosis
Currently, significant obstacles hinder diagnosis in the UK. Many speech and language therapists lack reliable tools to assess languages other than English, and there is a shortage of multilingual practitioners and trained interpreters. This can lead to DLD being missed, or conversely, typical multilingual development being wrongly labelled as disordered.
Progress is being made with new assessment tools. The UK bilingual toddlers assessment tool evaluates two-year-olds' vocabulary in both British English and their other language. Meanwhile, the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery includes tests for older children, assessing skills like phonological memory and storytelling.
Researchers at Newcastle University, including Teresa Garrido-Tamayo, Carolyn Letts, and Laurence White, are developing a dynamic assessment that uses enjoyable activities to gauge a child's learning potential in areas affected by DLD, such as recognising emotions in voices.
Detecting DLD is only the first step. With timely, appropriate support from families, schools, and specialists, the life outcomes for multilingual children with DLD can be transformed, helping them lead healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives.
