Meeting the needs of students: What teachers know about developmental language disorder and inclusive practices

Australian teachers must implement reasonable adjustments to ensure access to education for all students, including those with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Given language is the currency of learning, knowledge of DLD is necessary to correctly interpret student characteristics and implement appropriate adjustments. DLD however is a complex disorder. This project investigated what teachers know about DLD using survey methodology. Participants' self-rated knowledge was higher than their demonstrated knowledge. Participants also had difficulty interpreting student characteristics and selecting appropriate adjustments in scenario tasks. Years of experience, training, and speech pathology support were positively associated with self-rated knowledge, but not identification accuracy.