About our presenter:  Shaun Ziegenfusz -  Speech Pathologist, Lecturer, Co-Founder of The DLD Project

Shaun Ziegenfusz is the Co-CEO/Co-Founder of The DLD Project and Lecturer a Griffith University. As a practising speech pathologist, he has extensive experience working with young people, families and educators in school settings. Shaun is proud to be an International Committee member for Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder (RADLD) with reach into more than 30 countries globally. He is also the Chair of The DLD Project Foundation, which is the peak DLD body in Australia to support individuals with DLD and their families. Shaun has recently completed his thesis investigating the educational needs and supports for school-aged students with DLD from the perspective of stakeholders.

About the webinar:  Supporting the 1 in 14 students with Developmental Language Disorder at school

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is the nationally and internationally accepted term to describe difficulties acquiring language for no known reason. Prevalence of DLD is estimated to be 7%, which means teachers can anticipate having two students with DLD in a class of 28 students each year. Students with DLD are more likely than their peers to experience challenges across the curriculum, including literacy and numeracy. However, teachers report limited awareness and knowledge of DLD, as well as being unsure how to support students with DLD in the classroom.

This keynote will address how to support school-aged students with DLD in the classroom. The following topics will be covered, including:

• The characteristics and diagnostic criteria of DLD;
• Identifying the challenges students with DLD experience at school;
• Evaluating education practices to enable access to the curriculum; and,
• The perspectives of teachers, allied health professionals, parents/caregivers, and students with DLD.

A case study of a student with DLD will be embedded throughout the presentation to support participants with applying this information to students from Foundation to Year 12.