Livewell Southwest logo

Developmental Language Disorder

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a condition where children have problems understanding and/or using spoken language. There is no obvious reason for these difficulties, for example, there is no hearing problem or physical disability that explains them.

This results in children who have difficulty understanding what people say to them, and struggle to articulate their ideas and feelings. DLD can have a significant impact on progress at school, or on everyday life.

In the past DLD was known as specific language impairment (SLI) but recently the name has changed so that it better reflects the types of difficulties children have.