DLD and Me: Supporting Children and Young People with Developmental Language Disorder

Despite an increasing awareness of Developmental Language Disorder, there are very few tools available to help people understand and live with a diagnosis of DLD. DLD and Me is a functional, engaging resource for children and young people with DLD and the professionals and families that work with them. The book consists of an easy-to-follow, 12-week programme designed to help children and young people understand their strengths, what makes them different, what DLD is and how they can support their own communication in everyday life.

Key features include:

• clearly worded session plans for therapists or education staff to follow;
• engaging visual resources to accompany the session plans, each available to photocopy and download;
• home sheets to keep families involved and informed;
• information sheets and training plans for parents and education staff;
• outcome measures to evaluate progress.

This invaluable tool has been designed to be used by Speech and Language Therapists, teachers and other professionals or parents working with children and young people with DLD.
About the Author:

Anna Sowerbutts is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working for the Children's Integrated Speech and Language Therapy Service for Hackney and the City. She has worked in Hackney and other London boroughs for several years with children with a wide range of speech, language and communication disorders in early years, primary and secondary schools. She currently specialises in speech and language disorders, including Developmental Language Disorder, and works in mainstream schools and a specialist language resourced school. Alongside clinical work, she is the recipient of a National Institute of Health Research Predoctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship, and is completing an MRes in Applied Research in Human Communication Disorders at University College London.

Amanda Finer is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist for the Children's Integrated Speech and Language Therapy Service for Hackney and the City. She also has a growing private practice. Since qualifying, Amanda has worked within early years, primary and secondary school speech and language therapy teams in a range of boroughs in and around London, and she has worked as a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with children who have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and speech disorders since 2012. Central to Amanda's role in Hackney is the development of the DLD and speech service, and she and the DLD team in Hackney have embraced the changes in terminology and criteria. Amanda has been asked to speak about Hackney's DLD work at the DLD Study Day at University College London, the Surrey DLD Clinical Excellence Network (CEN) and the North West Mainstream Schools CEN, at the North West Conference for professionals working with language disorder, on an Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) webinar and at an RCSLT roundtable event for other professionals.