23/04/2026
Iām sitting with a mix of sadness and anger this morning.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) does not disappear when a child reaches secondary school. It doesnāt quietly resolve itself by Year 7. It doesnāt stop affecting learning just because the curriculum gets harder.
This last 7 days alone, Iāve met three 15-year-olds who sat their GCSE mocks earlier in the year ā and all three failed badly.
All three have EHCPs.
And yet, the staff working most closely with them didnāt even know.
Let that sink in.
These are young people with identified, documented speech, language and communication needs ā needs that directly impact their ability to understand questions, process information, organise their thoughts, and express what they know. And still, they were placed into high-stakes exams without the understanding or support they are legally entitled to both for the exam and in the classroom. The provision is clear, including pre-teaching of vocabulary, scaffolding and support with narrative.
This isnāt about lack of ability.
This isnāt about effort.
This is about a system that is still not recognising how fundamental language is to learning.
When DLD is not understood:
ā¢ instructions are missed
ā¢ questions are misunderstood
ā¢ knowledge cannot be expressed
ā¢ anxiety skyrockets
And the result? Failure on paperā¦ and a devastating impact on mental health.
The young people I met this week are not just ābehindā ā they are exhausted, overwhelmed, and losing confidence in themselves. There are serious concerns about their wellbeing, and rightly so.
We cannot keep letting this happen.
EHCPs should mean something in classrooms.
Staff need to know who these young people are.
And most importantly, they need to understand what DLD looks like in a 15-year-old ā because it doesnāt look the same as it does at 5.
If we donāt get this right, we are not just failing academically ā we are failing these young people at a human level.
Something has to change.
