A First-Person Account of Developmental Language Disorder

Developmental language disorder and neurodiversity: Surfacing contradictions, tensions and unanswered questions

BACKGROUND

Neurodiversity is increasingly discussed in relation to autism research and practice. However, there is a lack of scholarship concerning the neurodevelopmental condition of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and the neurodiversity movement. While this movement may hold opportunities for the DLD community, the application of the concept of neurodiversity to DLD research and practice needs consideration, as DLD and autism have very different levels of public and professional awareness and understanding.

AIMS

In this article, we discuss what the concept of neurodiversity and the associated neurodiversity movement could mean for DLD research and practice. We aim to critique some assumptions that may arise from the application of neurodiversity principles (or assumed principles) to the field of DLD.

METHODS

This is a discussion paper, drawing on the personal experiences and reflections of the author team.

MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS

We make the case for why DLD should be included in discussions about neurodivergence and outline considerations for doing so, and why some issues and applications may be particular to DLD. We outline points of similarity and contrast with autism in relation to our understanding of neurodiversity. We consider the issues around diagnosis and terminology and urge practitioners to continue to diagnose DLD using currently agreed terminology, so as not to undermine recent awareness efforts. We note that a neurodiversity-informed perspective challenges us to offer interventions that operate at the level of our environments, not just at the level of an individual. Indeed, neurodiversity offers a platform to argue for better rights and more inclusive spaces in mental health settings, education and work for children and adults with DLD.

CONCLUSIONS

DLD should be considered from a neurodiversity-informed perspective, and it is our hope that this will lead to neurodiversity-affirming practice that will afford young people with DLD better understanding from members of the public and the professionals who work with them. Further work is needed to better support children, young people and adults with DLD to have a voice in the neurodiversity movement.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

What is already known on the subject Neurodiversity approaches are increasingly being taken up in research and practice in relation to autism, meaning that our understanding of autism and how autistic people are supported is increasingly drawing on the principles of neurodiversity. However, autism is not the only neurodivergent population. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is another neurodevelopmental condition; however, relative to autism, DLD has lower awareness amongst professionals and the public. There has been no scholarship that has examined DLD through the lens of neurodiversity, or considered the application of neurodiversity-affirming approaches to DLD. What this paper adds to existing knowledge In this paper, we examine what the neurodiversity movement means for DLD research and practice. In particular, we consider what neurodiversity in the field of autism might teach us about the application of neurodiversity in the field of DLD, and highlight where we believe there are important differences between the two populations. We reflect on what neurodiversity means for intervention, diagnosis, terminology and championing the need for accessibility, especially with regard to mental health support, education and employment. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Neurodiversity highlights the need to consider interventions at the level of an individual's environment (e.g., how can we make this space more inclusive?) as well as interventions operating at the level of the individual themselves (e.g., interventions focusing on an individual's language skills). We challenge the notion that neurodiversity-affirming approaches mean not diagnosing DLD or changing DLD's terminology: we argue that this is not in the spirit of the original neurodiversity movement, but also that for a condition with such low public awareness, these actions could do more harm than good for families affected by DLD. We call for more in-depth scholarship and discussion around the application of neurodiversity approaches to DLD and argue that the neurodiversity movement offers an important opportunity to raise better awareness and understanding of DLD in multiple sectors, including (but not limited to) mental health, education and employment.

Exploring self-reported quality of life in developmental language disorder

Purpose

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition associated with poorer outcomes than neurotypical peers, yet relatively little is known about long-term quality of life in DLD. This preliminary study adopts a neurodiversity-informed approach by exploring self-reported quality of life in an adolescent and young adult DLD sample, as well as linguistic and risk factors contributing to quality of life.

Method

Participants were five individuals with DLD aged 12-20 years (M = 15.60; SD = 3.05). I administered two self-report quality of life scales, a language assessment, an experimental morphosyntax task, and measures of risk factors. Data were analyzed descriptively.

Results

Participants generally reported positive views about their quality of life, though accessing accommodations and health services emerged as barriers. Relatively better grammaticality judgement performance appeared to be linked with poorer ratings of happiness and the ability to 'be yourself.' Nonverbal ability represented a potential risk factor, though there may be a stronger cumulative role for risk factors.

Conclusions

DLD participants reported relatively good quality of life. Exploratory findings suggest barriers to quality of life in some contexts, as well as roles for individual differences in language and risk factors. These descriptive findings should be examined in larger scale studies and may represent areas of consideration when clinicians address functional challenges that impact mental health and wellbeing in individuals with DLD.

Implementing a Metalinguistic Approach to Secondary School Writing

PURPOSE

Writing is an essential skill that secondary students need to establish for success in their further education, careers, and lives. However, most secondary students in the United States do not achieve the level of writing proficiency expected to ensure academic and future success. One approach that is emerging more in the research literature is the use of a metalinguistic approach to writing.

METHOD

This tutorial begins with a discussion of current educational demands and performance trends in secondary-level academic writing and how secondary students and their educators are presently struggling to meet those demands. The tutorial continues further with a discussion of existing effective writing interventions, as well as current gaps in areas of writing intervention that have the potential to be filled if metalinguistic abilities are also targeted as part of comprehensive secondary-level writing instruction. The author then provides rationale for the use of a metalinguistic approach to secondary school writing including explanation of the metalinguistic processes of writing, how to target those processes while writing, and existing metalinguistic writing interventions. The tutorial concludes with step-by-step suggestions and methods for instructors/interventionists to implement a metalinguistic approach to academic writing with secondary students including (a) review of the critical aspects of students' academic writing expectations, (b) collection of baseline data of students' metalinguistic abilities, (c) facilitation of metalinguistic discussion while working on writing with students, and (d) differentiation of students' instructional level of support.

CONCLUSION

This tutorial will provide instructors/interventionists with the background information, rationale, and a framework to implement a metalinguistic approach to writing that can be utilized when working with secondary students during any academic writing task.