Effective pedagogical approaches for children with developmental language disorder: a systematic literature review

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a language disorder with no known cause. Although awareness around DLD has grown, it remains an under-researched and underserved condition. This study aimed to identify pedagogical approaches which are effective for children with DLD aged 4-12 years old. To achieve this goal, a systematic literature review was carried out on research published from 2003-2023. A database search, website search, reference harvesting, and a manual search were conducted to identify studies for review. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria of the review. Eight of these studies were randomised control trials while the remaining three were cohort studies. All studies were rated according to Gough’s (2007) Weight of Evidence framework. These studies focused on areas such as word learning, language and auditory processing, phonological awareness, non-linguistic cognitive processing, direct versus indirect and individual versus group modes of language therapy, as well as grammar. These studies identified interactive book reading, Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L), computer-assisted language intervention, individualised language intervention, non-linguistic cognitive interventions, bilingual therapy, indirect and direct interventions, group and individual interventions, ‘Context-Optimization’, and spaced interventions as effective pedagogical approaches for children with DLD.N