Developmental Language Disorder at Adolescence: Links Between Communication Skills and Self-Efficacy Ratings

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) has a prevalence of 7%, making it one of the important yet little known neurodevelopmental disorders. Often identified in kindergarten, children with DLD have language learning difficulties severe enough to impact their schooling and socialization. During adolescence, there is a high risk of academic, vocational, and mental health difficulties. However, for adults with DLD, a positive perception of self-efficacy may act as a protective factor. This led us to explore how communications skills and self-efficacy are related in adolescents with DLD. The participants were 49 teenagers, aged 12 to 15, who have DLD. Communication was measured using the Children’s Communication Checklist, completed by the teenagers’ parents, while perception of self-efficacy was reported by the teenagers as well as by their parents using the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. A significant correlation was found between communication and self-efficacy with three domains of communication being the most important in this association, i.e., coherence (r = 0.716, p < 0.001), initiation (r = 0.581, p < 0.001), and use of context (r = 0.649, p < 0.001). These results highlight the crucial role of social communication in the profile of teenagers living with DLD. They further suggest that it may be relevant to examine whether supporting language development may foster positive perception of self-efficacy in teenagers living with DLD.