ABSTRACT
The development of speech and language therapy (SLT) and the identification of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) in Slovakia closely mirrors that in the Slovak and Czech Republics which co-existed as Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1992. SLT in Slovakia is seen as a transdisciplinary science focusing on the identification and prevention of impaired communication in a wide range of conditions in both children and adults. Services for children with DLD are organized and administered by two government departments: the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. In the education system, speech therapists work in a network of advisory centres as well as directly at schools that specialize in provision for children with impaired communication ability, or at mainstream schools with special classes for children with communication disorders. All the institutions were established to provide specialized care for children with DLD.
