Language Diagnoses

Not all children with language difficulties need support from a speech and language therapist. Some children’s needs can be supported by home and school to help them develop vital language skills.

If your child has been referred for further assessment by a speech and language therapist, following their language assessment they may receive one of the diagnoses outlined below.

Not every child who receives one of these diagnoses will require ongoing support from a speech and language therapist. There are many ways that home and school can support children with ongoing language needs. See the information and advice links for suggestions and ideas for how to support children at home and in the classroom.

Language and communication needs

A child may be given a diagnosis of language and communication needs (LCN), where they have difficulties with understanding language, vocabulary, use of grammar and / or narrative. For some children, these difficulties may resolve over time with support from home and school, but for other children they may go on to receive one of the following diagnoses below.

Language disorder

A child may be given a diagnosis of language disorder if they have ongoing difficulties in more than one area of their language development. In order to receive this diagnosis, the child’s language difficulties will need to have continued over time and have an impact on their day-to-day use and understanding of language.

This diagnosis is usually given by a Speech and Language Therapist when a child has (or is awaiting assessment for) another diagnosis that may explain the underlying cause of their language difficulties. This could include a diagnosis or further investigation for autism, cerebral palsy, deafness, intellectual disability, brain injury, genetic conditions such as Down syndrome and chromosome deletion etc

Language disorder is a long-term diagnosis which impacts a child’s use and understanding of language and can make learning more difficult for them. This can also impact on their social relationships, emotional well-being and mental health. Language disorder can put a child at greater risk of other difficulties related to maths or literacy (e.g. dyslexia), which could impact their progress with learning.

Developmental language disorder

If a child has ongoing language difficulties and in the absence of any other known biomedical condition and/or diagnosis that could better explain their language disorder

(such as brain injury, intellectual disability, autism, etc.), they may be diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD).

DLD is a long-term diagnosis which impacts a child’s use and understanding of language and can make learning more difficult for them. This can also impact on their social relationships, emotional well-being and mental health. DLD can put a child at greater risk of other difficulties related to maths or literacy (e.g. dyslexia) which could impact their progress with learning.