Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the new term to replace Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

Development Language Disorder refers to children / young people who have difficulty speaking and understanding language. This results in difficulty understanding what people say to them, and they will struggle to articulate their ideas and feelings.

Next steps

If you are concerned that your child / young person may have DLD and that it is impacting their learning, talk to your child / young person's school / college. Speak to the class teacher or Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo) and they will be able to work with you and work out what happens next. If your child is under 5 years old, you need to speak to your Health Visitor.