ABSTRACT
The terms recommended in the UK are developmental language disorder (DLD), the consensus diagnostic term adopted by researchers and speech and language practitioners and speech, language and communication needs, the educational category that includes any child with speech and language impairments. The majority of public sector-funded Speech and language therapists who work for the national health services are based in community health clinics or child development centres, and either see children within the clinical facility or provide ‘outreach’ to day care centres, nurseries and schools. School-based services are probably the most common location of intervention for DLD in the UK. Children with social-emotional and mental health difficulties are at very high risk of having language difficulties, and vice versa. Children’s language development should be viewed as a public health well-being indicator, similar to obesity, rather than just an individual or ‘clinical’ concern.
