Better Together: Collaborating for Children with DLD

Collaboration between families, speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and educators, is crucial when helping children with Developmental Language Disorders. Families can provide a language-rich environment and reinforce the strategies and goals set for their child by the speech-language pathologist. Educators can make modifications in the classroom that complement the interventions provided by the SLP. Following are some examples of support that can be provided by these key team members.

How Families Can Help at Home

Families play an essential role in supporting children with DLD. Working closely with speech-language pathologists and educators, they can ensure consistent practice of the learning strategies used at school. Practicing new skills in a different environment increases retention of skills. Suggestions for supporting children with DLD at home:

• 1. Talk together often: Engage your child in frequent conversations. If your child answers in one- or two-word phrases, you can expand on their responses by adding new information and correcting errors as you model a longer sentence. For example:

  • Parent: Tell me about your field trip today.

  • Child: I saw goat

  • Parent: Oh, you saw some goats at the zoo? Tell me more about the goats.

  • Child: I pet the goats. I feeded them.

  • Parent: Wow, you got to pet and feed the goats at the zoo!

• 2. Read regularly: Reading with a child builds up their vocabulary and sense of story structure. By describing what is taking place in the story, pointing to pictures and asking questions, you engage your child in building comprehension skills.

• 3. Divide large tasks into small steps: Give simple instructions slowly and clearly, one step at a time, -to avoid confusing your child.

• 4. Be patient and positive: Children with DLD can get frustrated or upset when they are struggling to express their ideas. Celebrate their successes, however small, and provide a lot of encouragement.

How Speech-Language Pathologists Support Children with DLD

Speech-language pathologists play a monumental role in helping children with DLD by providing targeted interventions that address specific language needs. After performing a comprehensive assessment and setting appropriate goals, SLPs offer a supportive environment for language learning.

Speech-language pathologists assist children with DLD as follows:

• 1. Assess and plan: A speech-language pathologist can identify a child's language difficulties and establish specific goals and interventions based on an individual's needs.
  These goals may address phonemic awareness, vocabulary, grammar, or conversational skills.

• 2. Intervention: The SLP will use a variety of engaging techniques and strategies when working with a child individually or in a small group to teach and practice needed language skills.

• 3. Parent and educator training: SLPs can provide follow-up activities, materials, and strategies to reinforce the skills a student is working on during intervention sessions. They can also suggest modifications or accommodations for the classroom and at home.

• 4. Progress monitoring and strategy adjustment: The SLP regularly assesses each child's progress, adapting goals and approaches as needed. This ensures targeted and relevant support for a student’s continued language development.

How Educators Can Support at School

Educators also play a key role in supporting children with DLD by creating an inclusive learning environment that positively fosters language development. By collaborating with speech-language pathologists and families, teachers can ensure that students receive the necessary tools and strategies to succeed academically.

Teachers can help students with DLD succeed in the classroom using strategies such as:

• 1. Provide explicit and simple directions: Use short sentences and, when possible, break large or complex instructions into smaller chunks. Check with the student to monitor understanding.

• 2. Give additional time: Offer students with DLD additional time to process spoken language. Providing extended time on tests or assignments is one way to alleviate stress.

• 3. Use visual reinforcements: Pictures, diagrams, and written instructions can help solidify what is being taught or asked of the student.

• 4. Create opportunities for pair or small group work: The opportunity to work in pairs or in small groups allows children with DLD to practice communication with their peers.

• 5. Target key vocabulary: Pre-teaching important vocabulary prior to presenting a lesson can reduce frustration and enhance comprehension for struggling students. Building background knowledge helps to improve student engagement in lessons and creates a foundation for connecting new information to key concepts.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Educators, speech-language pathologists, and families can all play important roles in helping children with Developmental Language Disorders. By working together, this team can establish a comprehensive support system that can promote language development and help a child struggling with DLD to excel academically and socially.