Purpose
The purpose of this article is to situate the recent language disorder label debate within a school's perspective. As described in two recent
The ASHA Leader
articles, there is international momentum to change
specific language impairment
to
developmental language disorder
. Proponents of this change cite increased public awareness and research funding as part of the rationale. However, it is unclear whether this label debate is worthwhile or even practical for the school-based speech-language pathologist (SLP). A discussion of the benefits and challenges to a shift in language disorder labels is provided.
Conclusions
Although there are important arguments for consistency in labeling childhood language disorder, the reality of a label change in U.S. schools is hard to imagine. School-based services are driven by eligibility through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which has its own set of labels. There are myriad reasons why advocating for the
developmental language disorder
label may not be the best use of SLPs' time, perhaps the most important of which is that school SLPs have other urgent priorities.
