Charity Awareness Space

Research shows that many children with trouble learning at school or communicating with others have an undiagnosed condition called DLD.

Imagine making a new friend, learning a new subject, or negotiating
yourself out of a tough spot if you had trouble understanding or using
spoken language. On average 2 students in every class of 30 have a
neurodevelopmental condition called Developmental Language
Disorder or DLD. It is a brain-based condition, impacting on a person’s
ability to understand and use words and sentences.
Friday 18th of October 2024 is DLD Awareness Day and this year’s
campaign theme is Speak Out for DLD. We want more people to know
about DLD and so the impacts on mental health and education are
reduced.
DLD is more common than conditions such as autism, ADHD and
dyslexia and yet very few people have heard of DLD. When people
know about DLD positive things can happen. Like this:
 A teacher notices a child with DLD is struggling with
understanding and increases the use of photographs and
diagrams to help them learn.
 At work, an employer makes small adjustments to support an
adult with DLD to contribute in team meetings.
 A young person can tell their friends that DLD is the reason why
they to follow the conversation struggle when the group all talk at
once.
 A sports coach learns that it is better to show the young person
with DLD what to do, rather than shouting directions.

These small actions all help to make people with DLD feel included,
reduce the impacts of DLD on their mental health and help them reach
their potential.
And you can get involved!
Learn more about DLD from our website radld.org. More resources will
be added closer to the date, so bookmark it and come back to it a little
later. You can also follow us on social media via the links below.
But more importantly, you can also learn about it from people with DLD.
Hear what they have to say.
Shelbi, young adult with DLD: “It wasn’t just a “delay” for me and I
never “outgrew” or “caught up”. Just like many people; my DLD was
never identified nor was my difficulties were further investigated. DLD
is a life condition; early identification and support is key to supporting
those with DLD to manage everyday life.”
Jessica, a 12-year-old student with DLD: “I would like my teachers
to know that I may lose focus more easily than others and some tasks
may take longer. If I’m ever picked on to speak up in class, I have
trouble finding words from my head, so I may stutter a lot or just keep
quiet.”
Sam, teacher: “If teachers are repeatedly saying things like ‘they just
don’t listen’, then perhaps children need a language assessment. I
would like teachers to realise that there is a high probability that
somebody in their class has DLD and that these students are working
REALLY hard to understand everything.”

o WEBSITE: www.radld.org 
o FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/radld.page
o TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RADLDcam
o INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/radldcam/

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We are Speech and Language UK, and we want every child to face the future with confidence.

For 1.9 million children in the UK, learning to talk and understand words feels like an impossible hurdle. So we give children and young people the skills they need so they aren’t left behind, waiting to be understood.

Find out more about our work and resources: www.speechandlanguage.org.uk