Abstract
Developmental language disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by unexplained persistent language difficulties, which affects around 7.5% of school children. Despite this prevalence, developmental language disorder has poor public awareness, and early detection is crucial for appropriate assistance and to minimize negative impacts on academic performance and mental, social, and emotional health. Inclusive education demands that learners must be supported to succeed, and interprofessional collaboration between speech-language pathologists/therapists, teachers, and other professionals is essential for the needs of children with developmental language disorder. The chapter aims to increase support and awareness about developmental language disorders in children and focus on collaboration teamwork between teachers and speech-language pathologists/therapists.
TopIntroduction
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the inclusive term suggested by Criteria and Terminology Applied to Language Impairment Synthesising and Evidence (CATALISE) (Bishop et al., 2017) project to characterize a neurodevelopmental disorder, previously known as, “specific language disorder” epitomised by unexplained persistent language difficulties, i.e., language difficulties that occur on the absence of any other biomedical conditions (Bishop, 2017; Bishop et al., 2017). DLD has a considerable prevalence, around 7.5% of school children (Norbury et al., 2016). However this condition has poor public awareness, especially if contrasted to other neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (Conti-Ramsden et al., 2013; McGregor, 2020; Thordardottir & Topbaş, 2021).
Early detection of DLD is fundamental for obtaining appropriate assistance for language needs and also to lessen the potential negative impact on academic performance (Dockrell et al., 2017; Dockrell & Lindsay, 2001) mental, social and emotional health and functioning (Bakopoulou & Dockrell, 2016; Lindsay et al., n.d.; McCormack et al., 2011; McGregor, 2020; Thomas et al., 2019; Toseeb & St Clair, 2020; Van Daal et al., 2007).
An Inclusive education (IE) is key to a better understanding of DLD children’s needs, actively involve students, empowering within their own learning community (Slee, 2001). IE guidelines require providing support to all learners to ensure their success. It is crucial to have interprofessional collaboration involving speech–language pathologists / therapists (SLTs), teachers, and other professionals to address the needs of children with DLD (Archibald, 2017; Liu et al., 2018).
These changes in educational policies call for schools to restructure their professional work towards a strong collaboration with other professionals (e.g., (Rose, 2011). Suleman et al. (2014) exploratory study on the effect of interprofessional education showed that S-LP/Ts (Suleman et al., 2014) and teachers have the capacity to work in a collaborative way to apply effective services for school children with communication disorders. Both groups of teachers and SLP/Ts showed knowledge and willingness to apply different models of service applied to children’s needs after the experience of interprofessional education. This is important because each model of service has strengths and weaknesses and professionals should be able to determine which model to use in each specific case.
The importance of interprofessional collaboration has been defined in the literature, but studies involving teachers’ interprofessional cooperation are still scarce (Davis et al., 2015; Lakkala et al., 2021).
This chapter aims to increase support and awareness about DLD in children and focus on collaboration and teamwork between teachers and SLP/Ts.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Speech-Language Pathologist/Therapist: Is the professional responsible for prevention, assessment, diagnose, and treatment of speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in both children and adults.
Interprofessional Collaboration: Results when two or more professions work collectively to achieve common goals.
Inclusive Education: Proposes that all children should be in the same classrooms and in the same schools with the same learning opportunities.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD): Is a communication disorder that affects learning, comprehension, and language expression. These language problems are not explained by other biomedical conditions (for example, autism), or by deprivation of language exposure. DLD has previously been known as specific language impairment. The impact of DLD persists into adulthood years.