International Developmental Language Disorder Day
The Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies got involved in this year’s International Developmental Language Disorder Awareness Day on 16 October 2020.
The aim of the day was to raise awareness of this hidden condition. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a condition that affects on average two children in every classroom. More common than autism but typically unheard of, DLD can have a major impact on children's ability to use and understand language. Without the right speech and language therapy supports, children can have lifelong negative outcomes in academic achievement, relationships with peers, mental health, and employment.
Trinity College students and staff joined a national working group that brought together families, professionals and academics to help make the day a success. The working group organised a raft of activities including an online conference and a campaign to light up more than 30 well known landmarks nationwide in the DLD colours of purple and yellow.
Students from the Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies came together to take a leading role in a social media campaign to raise awareness of DLD in the general public. The students liaised with other speech and language therapy students from around the country to develop and share a range of social media content on DLD including a Tik Tok video sharing key facts about DLD. The students achieved more than 600 views of their Tik Tok and helped the DLD hashtags to trend on Twitter. The social media campaign was a great success highlighting this little known condition to a wide audience of the general public as well as those in positions of influence such as the Taoiseach Micheál Martin who shared a tweet on DLD. Getting involved in this national event also enabled students to gain an understanding of how to develop an awareness campaign and the important of these campaigns in informing policy and service provision. One of the students, Rhona Brady, described her experience of being involved with DLD day:
Involvement in DLD day was empowering. Seeing all our efforts come together made me realise what a powerful voice we have as SLT students, we just need to harness it. An invaluable experience that I highly recommend getting involved with.
The student group have even bigger plans for next year when we hope face to face events can be organised.
Student group members: Rhona Brady, Natasha O'Dwyer, Emma Byrne, Eva Diver, Katie Irwin Crosby, Aine O'Brien, Deirbhle Higgins and Laoighse Gleeson
Click here to view the Tik Tok: https://tinyurl.com/yxnnh97p