Impact of developmental language disorders on mental health and well-being across the lifespan: lived experience perspectives.

Objective: To explore the educational, occupational, and socioemotional experiences of people with developmental language disorder (DLD) across the lifespan to gain insight into risk/protective factors for mental health. Design: Qualitative analysis of focus groups and written submissions. Data were combined and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis approach within a critical realist framework.Setting: Southeast England and Western AustraliaParticipants: Six adults with DLD from England and five speech-language therapists from Western Australia participated in focus groups and/or contributed written responses to the research team. Results: We developed four themes: “perspectives on diagnosis and living with an invisible disability” explores participants’ perspectives on diagnosis, the difficulty in getting a diagnosis, and perceptions of DLD as widely misunderstood; “school struggles and self-esteem from past to present” detailed school experiences and their impact on mental health; “DLD across the lifespan” explored DLD in adulthood with a focus on workplace difficulties, emotional wellbeing, and mental health; “A sense of belonging”: Communication, connection, and support” provides a lived experience account into the social participation difficulties of adults with DLD and the importance of social support. Conclusions and implications: Adults with DLD may experience poor self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. These mental health concerns may result from: (a) exhaustion due to masking/compensating for neurodevelopmental differences, (b) loneliness and/or disempowerment due to difficulties with social interaction; and (c) adverse experiences such as bullying, discrimination, and a lack of appropriate accommodation at school and in the workplace. A lack of awareness and support for people with DLD from health, education, and employment providers was also seen as a contributing factor to poor mental health. Diagnosis may serve a protective function for mental health via self-understanding, self-esteem, and self-advocacy.