Developmental language disorder

Developmental language disorder (DLD), formerly known as dysphasia, is identified when a child has problems with language development that continue into school age and beyond. The language problems have a significant impact on everyday social interactions or educational progress, and occur in the absence of autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, or a known biomedical condition. The most obvious problems are difficulties in using words and sentences to express meanings, but for many children, understanding of language (receptive language) is also a challenge. This may not be evident unless the child is given a formal assessment. Recent work has moved toward standardising terms for children's language difficulties. In 2017, the CATALISE consortium recommended adopting "developmental language disorder" (DLD) for a subset of language disorder within the broader category of speech, language, and communication needs, with the aim of clearer communication, greater public awareness, and improved access to services. Earlier labels such as "developmental dysphasia" and "developmental aphasia" were discouraged because they suggest parallels with adult, brain-injury related conditions. The North American term "specific language impairment" (SLI) was also judged too narrow, as it focused on language in isolation and did not account for other difficulties that may co-occur.