We recognise the challenges that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, including those with developmental language disorder (DLD). Our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms will ensure every child gets the right support at the right time, including those with DLD who may not have previously received the necessary support.

Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) break down communication barriers, but too often children and young people with SEND wait too long to receive the support they need.

As part of our new £1.8 billion investment, schools will be able to access support from SaLTs through the Experts at Hand offer. These experts will work directly with school staff to equip them with skills and strategies to better meet need.

We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers and promote the SaLT apprenticeship route.

The department recognises the issues raised in Speech and Language UK’s ‘Missing Million’ report, including the importance of improving identification and support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We are considering this evidence alongside responses to the ‘Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform: putting children and young people first’ consultation.

The department’s proposed reforms aim to strengthen support for all children with SEND, including those with DLD. We are proposing National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages, developed by an independent expert panel drawing on expertise across education, health and care, including speech and language therapy, to promote consistent, evidence-based practice. These reforms remain proposals, and we are continuing to listen and carefully consider feedback from experts and those with lived experience before setting out next steps.

We are also investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support. To support delivery, the department is investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £15 million to expand speech and language therapy capacity, helping to improve access to support and ensure that children and young people receive the right help at the earliest opportunity.

The department recognises the issues raised in Speech and Language UK’s ‘Missing Million’ report, including the importance of improving identification and support for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We are considering this evidence alongside responses to the ‘Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform: putting children and young people first’ consultation.

The department’s proposed reforms aim to strengthen support for all children with SEND, including those with DLD. We are proposing National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages, developed by an independent expert panel drawing on expertise across education, health and care, including speech and language therapy, to promote consistent, evidence-based practice. These reforms remain proposals, and we are continuing to listen and carefully consider feedback from experts and those with lived experience before setting out next steps.

We are also investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support. To support delivery, the department is investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £15 million to expand speech and language therapy capacity, helping to improve access to support and ensure that children and young people receive the right help at the earliest opportunity.

The Department of Health and Social Care funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which supports clinical, public health, social care and global health research in partnership with the National Health Service, academia and others. NIHR infrastructure funding enables leading experts to deliver high‑quality translational, clinical and applied research, including work on developmental language disorder (DLD), strengthening the United Kingdom’s research capability and underpinning improvements in services and support. The Government is also committed to a more inclusive society where people with DLD are supported to thrive. Speech and language therapists assess and diagnose DLD, develop therapy plans with parents and carers, and provide workshops, advice and freely accessible resources to support communication at home.

To improve early support, the Department for Education is developing National Inclusion Standards to help educators identify and support children and young people with additional needs. Alongside this, proposals to reform the special educational needs and disabilities system aim to ensure earlier access to education and health support, with new Specialist Provision Packages being developed for those with more complex needs. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first-html-version

The Government is committed to creating a more inclusive society where everyone, including those with developmental language disorder, is supported to thrive.

Access to support should not be dependent on a child or young person having a diagnosis, and a diagnosis alone does not help a teacher know what strategies to use to support that child in the classroom. To ensure teachers can support children before needs escalate, the Department for Education will develop National Inclusion Standards that set out evidence-informed tools, strategies, and approaches for educators across the zero to 25 system to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs.

The Government is currently consulting on our proposals to reform the special educational needs and disabilities system. We will create a new offer for children who need additional support, called Targeted and Targeted Plus layers. Children in early years settings, mainstream schools, and colleges can benefit from education and health professionals without long waits for assessments. For children and young people with complex needs, we are developing new Specialist Provision Packages, designed with experts and tested with parents to set out exactly what support and resources are required for specific needs.

Speech and language therapists (SLTs) assess and diagnose developmental language disorders and develop therapy plans that actively involve parents and carers. NHS SLT services routinely deliver workshops, webinars, and advice sessions for families focusing on practical strategies to support communication at home. Many services provide freely accessible resources, including advice sheets and toolkits published by local National Health Service providers.

An independent expert panel will oversee the development of the National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages and keep them under regular review. The panel will draw on evidence from academics, education leaders and practitioners, and health and social care professionals including speech and language therapists, to promote high-quality, evidence-based practice and ensure alignment across the system, delivering high-quality support for children and young people, including those with Development Language Disorder.

Following our investment of £3.4 million this academic year to extend the Early Language Support for Every Child ‘test and learn’ programme, an interim independent evaluation was published in January. The final evaluation is due this autumn, providing insights into the effectiveness of delivery at a local level. This programme trials new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.

We are investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new Experts at Hand offer. This will strengthen mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support, allowing all children and young people to achieve and thrive.

Effective early identification and intervention are vital to improving outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities, including developmental language disorder.

To spread best practice, the department is strengthening the evidence base and providing clearer guidance to support practitioners in identifying and responding to children’s needs. An independent expert panel will develop National Inclusion Standards, setting out evidence-informed tools to help identify and meet additional needs effectively.

We are also investing over £200 million to ensure every Best Start Family Hub has a family facing practitioner to support early identification and joined-up care for children and families. We will introduce a fast track for Specialist Provision Packages and education, health and care plan for children under five with complex needs.

The department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms are ensuring every child gets the right support at the right time. This includes all of those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We regularly engage with organisations who represent children with SLCN, including DLD, such as Speech and Language UK who are a member of our Complex Needs Group.

​Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) break down communication barriers, but too often, children and young people with SEND wait too long for this support.

​As part of our new £1.8 billion investment, schools will be able to access support from professionals such as SaLTs through the Experts at Hand offer. They will work directly with school staff to equip them with skills and strategies to better meet need.

​We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers, and promote the SaLT apprenticeship route.

The department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms are ensuring every child gets the right support at the right time. This includes all of those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). We regularly engage with organisations who represent children with SLCN, including DLD, such as Speech and Language UK who are a member of our Complex Needs Group.

​Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) break down communication barriers, but too often, children and young people with SEND wait too long for this support.

​As part of our new £1.8 billion investment, schools will be able to access support from professionals such as SaLTs through the Experts at Hand offer. They will work directly with school staff to equip them with skills and strategies to better meet need.

​We are also investing £15 million to establish new SaLT advanced practitioners in every integrated care board area to support more SaLTs to work with educational settings, upskill speech and language support workers, and promote the SaLT apprenticeship route.

The data requested is not held centrally. Children with developmental coordination disorder, commonly known as dyspraxia, access support through local National Health Service occupational therapy, paediatrics, physiotherapy, and educational services.

NHS guidance sets out a referral process which typically begins with a general practice, health visitor, or a special educational needs coordinator, who may refer the child to paediatric occupational therapy and physiotherapist for assessment and support. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia/

For the first time, we have set a target for systems to work to in order to reduce long waits for community health services. By 2028/29 at least 80% of community health services activity should take place within 18 weeks, bringing community health services in line with targets for elective care.

Topics for new or updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance are considered through an established prioritisation process. Decisions as to whether NICE will create new, or update existing, guidance are overseen by a prioritisation board, chaired by NICE’s Chief Medical Officer.

The NICE Prioritisation Board considered developmental language disorder: diagnosis and management as a topic for guidance development at its meeting on 20 November 2025. They recognised that developmental language disorder is a significant condition that affects a large population. However, they agreed that there is unlikely to be sufficient evidence available at this time to be able to develop a useful and usable guideline. Therefore, the topic was not selected for guidance development at this time.

Community health services, including children’s speech and language therapy, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities. NHS England is working with the Department for Education to identify and support children with speech, language, and communication needs by co-funding pathfinder sites to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child programme.

The programme aims to identify and support children and young people in their early years and primary school settings with mild to moderate speech, language, and communication needs, reducing the rate of specialist referrals, and increasing workforce capacity through innovative workforce models.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help integrated care boards (ICBs) and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for people referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and following a recent diagnosis of autism. Since publication, NHS England has been supporting systems and services to identify where there are challenges for implementation and how they might overcome these.

The Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, was explicit that ICBs and providers are expected to optimise existing resources to reduce long waits for autism assessments and improve the quality of assessments by implementing published guidance.

The government is committed to ensuring that every child has the best start in life. This includes all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including speech, language and communications needs such as Developmental Language Disorder.

We know that continuing to build the pipeline of speech and language therapists (SaLT) is essential. The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with SEND.

In addition to the undergraduate degree route, SaLTs can now also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is entering its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a SaLT.

In partnership with NHS England, the department has extended the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

For all celebrations and awareness raising events where the department may light up its buildings, it reviews what equipment is necessary to support the event and assess any security implications. The department will then make a decision on how it can best use its building to reflect support for that particular cause. This review has not yet taken place.

Due to the significantly increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS Digital has paused the creation of new content on NHS.UK. However, NHS Digital will consider an update to this section in relation to user needs, clinical and policy guidance and resources before making its decision.

We currently have no specific plans to do so.

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day on 15 October 2021 is an important opportunity to raise awareness of DLD. It is key that schools are aware of how to best support pupils diagnosed with DLD.

The department will be highlighting Developmental Language Disorder Awareness Day to schools through its communication routes and encouraging settings to draw on best practice to support pupils with DLD.

The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs get the support they need. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice makes clear that local authorities, educational institutions, and relevant others must appropriately identify the needs of their local area and ensure that appropriate support is available to meet those needs.

We have given £391 million to local areas to support implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms. Nationally, funding for children and young people has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to just under £6 billion this year. In Sheffield, the local authority will receive £54 million in high needs funding for 2018-19.

We are aware of the concerns of local authorities about high needs cost pressures. We are monitoring the drivers of these pressures, and looking at what can be done to help local authorities manage them.

The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs get the support they need. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice makes clear that local authorities, educational institutions, and relevant others must appropriately identify the needs of their local area and ensure that appropriate support is available to meet those needs.

We have given £391 million to local areas to support implementation of the 2014 SEND reforms. Nationally, funding for children and young people has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to just under £6 billion this year. In Sheffield, the local authority will receive £54 million in high needs funding for 2018-19.

We are aware of the concerns of local authorities about high needs cost pressures. We are monitoring the drivers of these pressures, and looking at what can be done to help local authorities manage them.