Screening of UNdiagnosed DLD in Students (SoUNDS): Validation of a screening tool to identify undiagnosed DLD in further education students

Context: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions, but it is relatively unknown and often goes undiagnosed. DLD results in significant functional communication challenges across the lifespan in the face of no known biomedical condition (e.g., hearing loss or Autism) [1], and has been consistently estimated to affect 7% of the population [2, 3]. However, only 39% of children with DLD (identified via population screening methodology) had been referred to speech and language therapy (SLT) for diagnosis and support [2]. Consequently, a substantial proportion of individuals with DLD reach adulthood without diagnosis, not receiving the necessary access to support, resources, and reasonable adjustments needed to thrive. Accordingly, undiagnosed language disorders are associated with significantly higher rates of academic underachievement, difficulties in accessing further education, mental health conditions, emotional and behavioural disorders, criminal behaviour, and unemployment [4-8]. Opportunity: Accommodating and supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions (including those with DLD) is increasingly important in further education (FE) institutions and is mandated by law [9]. However, effective support can only be provided if disability services can accurately and efficiently identify DLD in students, which may have previously gone unrecognised. While FE institutions regularly recognise and accommodate dyslexia, ADHD, and Autism diagnoses, awareness of DLD within these institutions is often lower. Our project will address this challenge, through developing tools and guidance that will enable effective identification and support of FE students with undiagnosed DLD. Objectives: We will evaluate and validate a short screening tool to effectively identify students with undiagnosed DLD in FE institutions. We will determine whether the screening tool can differentiate adults with DLD from adults without DLD, as well as autistic adults and adults with dyslexia. We will also establish whether the screening tool can identify previously undiagnosed DLD in FE students seeking disability assessments. We will then explore the experiences and support needs of FE students newly diagnosed with DLD, and the current knowledge of DLD and support available within FE disability services. This will support our final objective of co-creating video and printed materials with students with DLD to guide both students with DLD and disability services. These materials will provide support at the point of diagnosis and help disability services determine the optimal support for students with DLD. Applications and Benefits: Validating a screening tool to identify missed cases of DLD in adulthood has important applications and benefits for both individuals and educational institutions. For instance, individuals may benefit simply from having much clearer insights into their own strengths and weaknesses. They may also be empowered to seek reasonable adjustments in future contexts (e.g., workplaces). This research has practical applications through the creation of FE education guidance for how best to support and provide reasonable adjustments for adults with DLD. This would facilitate a better understand of DLD in adult education institutions, helping adults with DLD to thrive by acknowledging and adjusting for their neurodivergent needs. However, the applications and benefits of this research go far beyond the FE sector. The adult DLD screening tool could be validated and used with other adult populations, such as individuals with mental health conditions, individuals in prisons and the unemployed, where identifying undiagnosed DLD is particularly important, as well as in research as an efficient method for identifying adult DLD samples.