Developmental Language Disorders (DLD)

  • Developmental Language Disorder

    Developmental language disorder (DLD) is diagnosed when a child’s language skills are persistently below the level expected for the child’s age. In DLD, language deficits occur in the absence of a known biomedical condition, such as autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome, and interfere with the child’s ability to communicate effectively with other people. Expressive language is characterised by non-specific words and short simple sentences to express meanings beyond the age at which children may be using more complex language.

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  • Parents should keep talking to boost infant language development

    Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to have poorer language skills when starting school than those from higher SES backgrounds. Now, data shows that increasing the amount of “contingent talk”— whereby a caregiver talks about objects that an infant is directly focusing on — within an infant’s first year of life promotes a wide vocabulary later in infancy.

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  • Processing speed determines dyslexia risk

    Males exhibit a lower average reading performance than females, according to new data from Anne Arnett and colleagues. The researchers devised a framework to first validate the apparent sex difference in prevalence of dyslexia and then determine which cognitive correlates may underlie this difference.

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