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Look through this section for a range of helpful websites and resources for speech and language development.

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Scroll across to find the sections relevant to you. Then scroll up or down within each section to see the resources within that column.

Click on the pictures and links to view them.

When you are finished, click on the X to return to the main Padlet page.

You can right click on text and select 'read aloud' if that helps.

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What we do

General resources and support

Language

DLD

Speech

Social communication

Stammering

Selective mutism

Other handy resources

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Speech, language and communication - Children and Family Health Devon

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Hearing problems, stammering, cleft lip, selective mutism

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Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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We give families the confidence and skills to help their children. If you're concerned about your child's speech and language development, we can help.

We know that it can be hard to know where to start if you are worried about your child's development. If you think your child is having challenges with talking and understanding words, we are here to help you.

Our free resources and services can help with understanding what to look out for, how to get support and even some simple ways you can help your child at home.

Our progress checker will provide short questions you can answer to see how your baby or child is getting on with their talking and understanding of words.

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Help for families - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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We give families the confidence and skills to help their children. Access our free resources and learn more about ways to encourage children's speech and language development.

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How to help your baby or toddler learn to talk, plus advice on speech and language problems and bilingual children.

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Tiny Happy People is here to help you develop your child's language skills. Explore our simple activities and play ideas and find out about babies and toddlers' amazing early development.

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Children’s language development and parenting advice - BBC Tiny Happy People

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A chatty child is a happy child, so Tiny Happy People is here to help you develop your child’s communication skills through simple interaction and play.

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Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Watch our new video and share it to help us raise awareness of this lifelong condition. #2in30

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a lifelong condition affecting 2 children in every average classroom of 30 in the UK.

DLD is a diagnosis given by a speech and language therapist to people who have lifelong difficulties with talking and understanding words. These difficulties create barriers to communication or learning in everyday life and aren't due to another condition.

Lots of children have it, yet most people don't know about it.

Watch our new video and find out how you can help raise awareness below.

Are you an educator?

Learn more about how you can help children in your classroom by accessing our resources today.

Quick answers to your questions about DLD

Although it's common, DLD isn't very well-known. Here's some answers to questions that people sometimes ask us about DLD.

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Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) awareness - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) awareness - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Welcome to RADLD.ORG, created to Raise Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder or 'DLD'. Here you will learn more about DLD, access resources and find out how to raise awareness.

SAVE THE DATE | DLD Day #dldday

Friday 18 October 2024

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR SUPPORTING The 2023 DLD Day theme is 'DLD Around the World'.

Please share our website with family, friends and professionals. Our website is constantly growing, so please check in regularly. Send us your ideas or links to your own resources or activities about DLD to hello@radld.org.

DLD AROUND THE WORLD

Click on a highlighted country to see our international committee pages:

Meet RADLD Spokesperson Marie-Soleil Labelle "Sunny"

Hear about Growing with DLD from our RADLD Spokesperson Race Car Driver Marie-Soleil Labelle "Sunny".

The 2023 Dorothy Bishop lecture

Join RADLD for our annual Dorothy Bishop lecture in the lead up to #DLDday 2023 presented by Prof. Elizabeth Peña!

Learn more about RADLD

Learn more about DLD

How well do you know Developmental Language Disorder? Take our short quiz to test your knowledge.

More information

Here we share resources to help build your knowledge of this hidden but common condition.

More information

SAVE THE DATE | #DLDDAY 2024 FRIDAY 18 OCTOBER 2024 Developmental Language Disorder is a hidden but common disability that affects 1 in 14 people causing difficulties understanding and using language for no known reason. The 2024 DLDday theme will be announced in the coming months. Please contact the RADLD...

More information

Developmental Language Disorder

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the new term to replace Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Developmental Language Disorder is diagnosed when children fail to acquire their own language for no obvious reason. This results in children who have difficulty understanding what people say to them, and struggle to articulate their ideas and feelings. Recent research has shown that, on average,...

More information

Newsroom

Race car driver Marie-Soleil Labelle races to raise awareness of DLD/TDL as RADLD's first official Spokesperson Quebec (CA) Race car driver and bilingual French-English speaker, Marie-Soleil Labelle is known affectionately as 'Sunny'. RADLD is excited to announce that Sunny has joined us as our first official spokesperson. Sunny has...

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Amelia, a 9-Year-Old UK school girl and RADLD Ambassador, is living her best life. With support, she continues to reach her goals despite being diagnosed with an 'invisible' communication disability affecting 2 students in every class of 30. Amelia loves to be busy! She plays the cornet, enjoys dance,...

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Marie-Soleil Labelle is a young racing car driver from Quebec. Marie-Soleil has Developmental Language Disorder. What an inspiration! This video is in French, but you can add auto-subtitles if French is not your language. Thank you Marie-Soleil for sharing your story with RADLD.

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Get involved

RADLD is a movement of passionate academics, researchers, health professionals, educators and families from around the world committed to raising awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Events Partner with us

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Get the latest updates from the RADLD team straight to your inbox.

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RADLD - Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder - RADLD

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Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (RADLD) is the international advocacy for people with Developmental Language Disorder.

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© 2018 by Boys Town National Research Hospital and DLDandMe.org Collaborators

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Looking for help with your stammer? Has your child started stammering? We’re here.

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Selective Mutism Information & Research Association (SMIRA)

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Selective Mutism (SM) is a communication anxiety disorder. This site contains information on and support for parents, people with SM, and professionals.

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Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust

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Selective mutism (SM) is used as a term to describe children and young people (CYP) who are able to talk comfortably to some people, such as family members and close friends, but are silent or unable to talk freely when other people are present. There is no guarantee that CYP who have SM will overco…

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Video: information for parents and carers

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Video: information for parents and carers

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Selective mutism: information for parents and carers - Children and Family Health Devon

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Teaching Tools to Support Social Emotional Learning by Developmental Age

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For over 25 years Social Thinking has been a guiding resource for schools, clinics, and families around the world, and we're here for you, too! Our Free Stuff Portal is filled to the brim with teaching ideas and resources to foster the development of students' social competencies.

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What are speech sounds and how do they develop?

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What are speech sounds and how do they develop?

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Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Speech sounds are the sounds we use for talking. We use our tongue, lips, teeth, and other parts of our mouth to create different speech sounds. Speech sounds are not the same as letters. For example, the word 'sheep' has five letters, but only three sounds: 'sh' 'ee' 'p'.

When do children learn different speech sounds?

As children learn to talk, they gradually learn to make more and more speech sounds. This means that they cannot say all speech sounds straight away. Some sounds like 'm' are easier to make than sounds like 'th'. The chart below shows the ages that children who speak English can normally say different sounds.

Children who can't make these speech sounds at these ages might need extra help from a speech and language therapist. Children may lisp 's' sounds until around age four or five. See our factsheet on lisps.

Even when children can make a speech sound by itself, it can be much trickier to use speech sounds when saying whole words and sentences! Children often find simpler ways to say words when they are finding a speech sound tricky. This chart shows examples of how your child might say words at different ages:

By five or six years old, nearly all words will be clear and easy to understand. Children who say words like a much younger child, or who say their words in an unusual or unpredictable way, might need extra help from a speech and language therapist.

I can understand everything my child says, but other people can't.

Families can often understand their child much better than other people. Families might be able to guess what their child is talking about and they learn to tune into how their child says words. It can be much harder for other people who don't know your child! Here is a rough guide about how clear your child's talking should be at different ages:

What causes challenges with speech sounds?

Children's speech is often unclear when they first start to talk, but most children will get clearer in time. Some children, though, have particular challenges making or using speech sounds and will need extra help from a speech and language therapist to talk clearly. We often do not know why a child has challenges using speech sounds, but it can be linked to:

Challenges with other areas of their communication skills, for example talking and understanding words

Glue ear (see glue ear page for more information)

Cleft palate

Having other family members who needed help with their speech sounds.

What about dummies?

In the past, professionals usually warned against using a dummy after age one as it could cause problems with speech sounds. Recently, studies show that this may not be completely true. For most children, their speech sound challenges are not caused by dummies. We have more information on the pros and cons of dummies here.

I am worried about my child's speech sounds, what should I do?

If the information here has made you think that your child's speech sounds are not as clear as other children their age, it is best to talk to your child's nursery or school, or contact a speech and language therapist. Please see our 'How do I find a speech and language therapist' guide for more information.

We also have a free speech and language advice line, which is a confidential phone call with an experienced speech and language therapist. During the 30-minute call, you will be given the opportunity to talk through your concerns and questions regarding your child's development. You can book your phone call

What can I do to help my child at home?

Focus on trying to understand your child is saying, rather than they are saying it. Turn off any background noise and get down to their level so you can see and hear each other easily.

It is usually best not to correct your child or ask them to copy you saying tricky sounds or words.

Model words. This means saying the word correctly to your child, but not making them repeat it after you. You can do this if you hear them make a mistake. Try to repeat the word a few times for your child. For example, if they say, 'Mummy, there's a tat!', you could say, 'Oh yes a cat! A ginger cat. What a lovely cat.'

Show your child how to use other ways to communicate what they want and need. Our information on visual supports is a good starting point.

Listening to and playing with sounds and music can help develop your child's awareness of sounds. Things to try:

Sing nursery rhymes or read rhyming books together. See if your child can finish the rhyme: Jack and Jill went up the... (hill).

Sing, dance or clap along to their favourite music and songs.

Play with musical instruments. Copy each other's tune or rhythm.

Drum together: Beat out a rhythm together using drums or household objects like pans and spoon.

We suggest trying mouth exercises such as practicing blowing or sucking. Mouth exercises are helpful for most children with speech sound challenges.
Useful websites:

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Speech sounds are the sounds we use for talking. We use our tongue, lips, teeth, and other parts of our mouth to create different speech sounds. Speech sounds are not the same as letters. For example, the word 'sheep' has five letters, but only three sounds: 'sh' 'ee' 'p'.

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Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust

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Speech Sound Development Toolkit - Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust

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Simple ideas to help you now – this pack aims to provide strategies, advice and activities to support parents/carers to help develop a child’s speech sounds. We recommend that these activities are done at set times during the day (e.g. after tea) as well as throughout the child’s day. These ideas can also be shared […]

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Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Our guide to the typical stages of speech and language development in babies, children and young people.

Children develop their speech, language and communication skills at different rates. However, knowing what is typical can help you identify speech and language problems early. You can also find out how to help your child learn to talk and understand words.

Our progress checker will provide short questions you can answer to see how your baby or child is getting on with their talking and understanding of words.

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Ages and stages - Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Our guide to the typical stages of speech and language development in babies, children and young people.

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Tips for supporting developing language.

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Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

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Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

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The Speech and Language Therapy Service supports children and young
people aged 0 to 19 years living in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

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My name is Carol Gray. My career began in 1976 as a teacher with four children with autism at Jenison Public Schools, in Jenison, Michigan.

I developed Social Stories in 1990 and will be your guide to their history. We'll explore the philosophical roots of Social Stories and the events that led to their discovery and continuing development.

I have spent a lot of time going through file drawers and old corrugated boxes of articles to piece together the history of Social Stories. It has added detail to - and in some cases corrected - my understanding of Social Story history. For example, prior to this backward search through time, I would have told you that a conversation with one of my students initiated Social Stories. I now understand that Social Stories developed over several years. This does not dismiss the importance of the conversation, instead it fills in important vacant spaces in Social Story history. This four-part summary is an opportunity to set the record straight, to share the events, setbacks, and thoughts that led to the development of Social Stories with unprecedented documentation.

I have divided the Social Story history into four sections. This is the first, followed by:

2. The Historical Context of Autism and Social Stories (Up to 1987);

3. The Origin of the Social Story Philosophy (1986-1990); and

4. The Discovery of Social Stories (1990 - 1993).

I suggest reading and exploring sections 1-4 in sequence. They are summaries with links to original documents. You'll notice that the Social Story history section covers from the early 1950s until 1993, when the first Social Story Book was published.

Many of the original articles and documents have been unavailable for several years. For example, in the first chapter, "The Historical Context of Autism and Social Stories", you'll find an unpublished article from 1980 and excerpts from a journal that I kept during my first year of teaching. In the third chapter, "The Discovery of Social Stories", there's a ink to the hard-to-find first formal journal article describing Social Stories that I wrote with Joy Garand. Similar resources are in each chapter. Together they are an accurate and detailed account of the context, opportunities, experiences, and ideas that resulted in the development of Social Stories and other ideas and instructional techniques.

Most of the documents in this Social Story history are Morning News articles. Our program received a federal Challenge Grant (Grant) in 1986. It enabled us to place our secondary students in general education classes and vocational training experiences in the community. The Grant also made it possible to print and distribute a newsletter to keep others informed of our activities. Initially, the newsletter was printed on a mimeograph machine in the school office. The quality and 'look' of The Morning News improved as time went on. The Morning News became the Jenison Autism Journal in the fall of 2002. In 2004, the Jenison Autism Journal became Autism Spectrum Quarterly with a new editor, Diane Twachtman-Cullen, Ph.D., CCC-SLP.

You'll notice my summary of the history of Social Stories covers from the middle of the last century until 1993. After that, the articles tell their own story. Simply go to The Morning News/Jenison Autism Journal on this website. There you will find two things: The Best of The Morning News/Jenison Autism Journal, a topical list of selected articles with a short description of each. You will also find, Back Issues, a sequential list of all of the existing issues, from 1993-2004. They are available for you to review or download with my compliments.

Every resource on this tour of documents is unaltered. Please keep age and historical context in mind as you encounter outdated terminology or long-since discarded attitudes and ideas. For example, some of the earlier Social Story information is no longer true today. As you proceed, you'll see how ideas and values transformed into our more current vocabulary, values, and understanding.

The resources are original in another way, too. Some of them have fuzzy school-mimeograph machine text, and others are not in the best of shape. At one time or another they each shared my desk or work area with iced tea or Diet Coke®. There are some stains, smudges, rips, and tears. No matter, they were the best copies available, and I scanned them in for this come-as-you-are documented history.

In some articles, you may encounter blacked out areas or handwritten notes from me. These are to clarify any confusion resulting from mention of materials that are no longer available. Please trust that I have tried to find as many of these missing materials as possible, many of them unfortunately without success. There is a link or ordering information for each available resource.

Before you get started, I want to explain why and when I capitalize the term 'Social Stories'. 'Social Stories' has been routinely capitalized as a proper noun for several years to distinguish the 'genuine' Stories that meet all of the current defining criteria. The word 'Story' or 'Stories' is also capitalized if used in reference to a genuine Social Story. I am following suit in this history; when 'story' or 'social stories' appears without capitalization, it means that the story or stories met the requirements of the definition at one time, but would not be considered Social Stories today.

My goal is to provide you with a helpful history of Social Stories. I hope it meets your needs, whether you are seeking a general overview or extensive detail, a few key pieces of information or a specific article. If you prefer to skip around, it is possible to start with any section. In this way, you can tailor your tour to fit your time and interest.

Whatever has brought you to this part of the website, thanks for taking the time to learn about the times, events, and efforts that led to the discovery of Social Stories.

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Social Stories - Carol Gray - Social Stories

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My name is Carol Gray. My career began in 1976 as a teacher with four children with autism at Jenison Public Schools, in Jenison, Michigan. I developed Social Stories in 1990 and will be your guide to their history. We'll explore the philosophical roots of Social Stories and the events that led to their discovery [...]

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Tips to help develop higher level language skills

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Tips to help develop higher level language skills

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Walsall VS SLCN Support Service August 2022

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Higher level language strategies for children with more language - Resource Library - Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust

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Language difficulties are nobody's fault but changing the way you talk can really help your child. Here are some strategies for children with more language. Leave gaps for your child to finish the sentence The adult says a sentence and leaves it unfinished, or with a gap, for the child to fill in the missing...

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General Speech, Language, and Communication info

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General Speech, Language, and Communication info

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CYP speech and language therapy useful information

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Selective mutism (SM) is used as a term to describe children and young people (CYP) who are able to talk comfortably to some people, such as family members and close friends, but are silent or unable to talk freely when other people are present.

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Supporting language development in young children

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Supporting language development in young children

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Supporting Language Development in Young Children – National Center on Improving Literacy

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It is important for parents and teachers to understand how they can support a child’s development. This includes properly assessing all key components of langua

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The power of play to boost early language | National Literacy Trust

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A year-round approach to fostering the power of play will significantly boost children’s early language skills. Hear from our Head of Early Years, Tracy Jackson OBE as she explains more about the importance of play, its correlation with improved literacy development and the role different forms of play can have lifelong positive impact.

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Other handy resources

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Selective mutism resources

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Helping children with fluency needs

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Resources for social communication and higher level language skills

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Resources for developing speech sounds

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These websites and resources may be helpful if your child has a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

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Here at the CDC, we only complete Speech and Language assessments as part of a wider neurodevelopmental assessment.

If young people have specific needs in relation to speech & language, they may be eligible for support from their local speech & language service.  Further details can be found by making direct contact with the service in Plymouth (provided by Livewell Southwest) or Devon (provided by Children & Family Health Devon).