Addressing Inequity in Mental Health Provision for Children and Adolescents With Developmental Language Disorder

Abstract

The above case study is fictional, but Oliver's difficulties are representative of the experiences of many young people with a language disorder. Unfortunately, integrated mental health and speech-language therapy services are rare, and available research to inform evidence-based mental health intervention for this population is lacking. Children and adolescents with DLD have a 1.8- to 2.3-fold increased risk of mental health conditions compared with peers,¹ and 45% to 64% of adolescents referred to mental health services have diagnosed or undiagnosed language disorder.² Mental health assessments and psychological treatments are verbally mediated, making them difficult for youth such as Oliver to access.³ To address this inequality in mental health provision, we need increased understanding and awareness of language disorders and how they can affect mental health, novel language interventions aimed to prevent mental health problems in youth with language disorders, and adaptations to existing mental health treatments to make them suitable for youth with language disorders.