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Today is DLD Awareness Day! People with DLD have difficulty understanding and using language. Humans use language a LOT in our day-to-day life, so DLD can contribute to difficulty in many areas - things like reading, learning, friendships, and emotional well-being! 1/10
In the classroom, there are some areas of the curriculum that are especially verbally demanding, like language arts, reading, writing, etc. But it’s important to remember that the impact of DLD extends far beyond these curriculum areas! 2/10
Math relies on language abilities too - we store verbal representations of numbers (number words like “ten”, “eleven”, etc.), along with our knowledge of digits (“10”, “11”, etc.) and of magnitude (our understanding of the quantities associated with 10, 11, etc.). 3/10
Kids with DLD often struggle on math tasks with high verbal demands - things like counting, arithmetic, and story problems. But generally they can still successfully complete math tasks with low verbal demands and develop typical conceptual understanding of math principles! 4/10
See this review paper for more details on math ability in kids with DLD: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-18-0041 (please message me if you need me to send you a pdf!).
I also talked more about this with @ChantalMayerC on the Parlé Podcast, available here: https://www.theparlepodcast.com/the-parleacute-podcast/episode-2-is-it-language-is-it-math-or-is-it-both-with-alex-cross.html 5/10
I also talked more about this with @ChantalMayerC on the Parlé Podcast, available here: https://www.theparlepodcast.com/the-parleacute-podcast/episode-2-is-it-language-is-it-math-or-is-it-both-with-alex-cross.html 5/10
@UCLSWAN are also working on developing a numeracy game for children and adults with communication difficulties, to help with learning relationships between spoken number words and numerals. You can check it out here https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/language-and-cognition/language-and-cognition-research/swan 6/10
More broadly, DLD can impact a child’s ability to understand classroom instruction and demonstrate their learning. Think about how often instruction involves the teacher or students talking/reading/writing, and how often assessments are based on what students read/write/say! 7/10
Here’s a video I made a few years ago for @larchiba6’s #WesternDLD2 class about how DLD can impact learning in the classroom. The video also includes some suggestions for teachers for supporting kids with DLD in classroom activities.
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There are many great DLD resources available from other #WesternDLD2 students here: https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/lwm/teaching/dld2.html And @RADLDcam is an excellent source of information and resources about all things related to DLD! 9/10
DLD is quite common (1 in 14 kids!) but is not well known. It’s important to help spread awareness about DLD and its impact on daily life so that we can better identify and support individuals with DLD. Help spread the word! #DLDSeeMe 10/10
