A critical literature review of vestibular dysfunction and
Developmental Language Disorder
Kirsty Mansfield, Speech and Language Therapist, Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Terminology
Vestibular sense: movement, gravity,
balance sense
Developmental Language Disorder
[DLD]: impacts the acquisition,
understanding, use of language -
https://radld.org/
1 Introduction
Approximately 2 children in every
classroom have DLD (Norbury et al.,
2016; Tomblin et al., 1997).
DLD:
• heterogeneous presentation
• motor skills also an area of difficulty for
some
• various hypotheses have been
considered for DLD and difficulties with
motor skills
• a less explored area is the vestibular
system of children with DLD
2 Aims
To research the literature around DLD and
vestibular dysfunction and critically
evaluate its quality
To ascertain if there is a link between DLD
and vestibular dysfunction
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015
www.PosterPresentations.com
3 Methods
The literature search:
• carried out by the reviewer
• nine databases
• speech and language therapy,
occupational therapy and psychology
journals
• peer-reviewed journals between 2012-
2022 with papers written in English
• inclusion criteria guided each step and
a PRISMA flow diagram recorded the
selection process (Page et al., 2021)
• 12 studies were identified
• data were extracted and critically
appraised, and then analysed and
synthesised using Bundy and Lane’s
(2020) schematic of sensory integrative
dysfunction
4 Findings
Vestibular receptors:
1 study; 82-89% vestibular dysfunction
Vestibular modulation:
2 studies; vestibular modulation
differences exist, at least for some
children with DLD
Vestibular integration and praxis:
Balance and postural-ocular control
present as areas of difficulty for some
children with DLD
Possible praxis difficulties for some
5 Conclusions
Unable to conclusively show that there is
a link between vestibular dysfunction and
DLD using current research
Suggestion that for some children there is
a correlation between DLD and vestibular
dysfunction
No effect of age or severity of DLD
Suggestion that motor functioning may
predict language outcome
6 Future work
Further research is warranted to
ascertain if SI theory has a place with the
DLD population.
Identification:
• differentially diagnosing between
bilingualism and DLD (Sanjeevan et al.,
2015)
• potentially indicating which children may
require long-term support (Sack et al.,
2022)
• where linguistic assessment alone at a
young age may not be accurate
(Rudolph et al., 2019)
Therapy: Are sit-down table-top
approaches effectively addressing the
underlying need?
Joint working: OT / Physiotherapy
References
Ayres, A. J. (1978). Learning disabilities and the vestibular
system. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 11(1), 30-
41. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221947801100104
Bundy, A., & Lane, S. (2020). Sensory Integration Theory and
Practice (3rd ed). F.A. Davis.
Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T.,
Simonoff, E., Vamvakas, G., & Pickles, A. (2016). The impact of
nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of
language disorder: Evidence from a population study. Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1247-
1257. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12573
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann,
T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A.,
Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M.,
Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E.,
McDonald, S., . . . Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement:
An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ
(Online), 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Rudolph, J. M., Dollaghan, C. A., & Crotteau, S. (2019). The finite
verb morphology composite: Values from a community
sample. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,
62(6), 1813-1822. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-18-0437
Sack, L., Dollaghan, C., & Goffman, L. (2022). Contributions of early
motor deficits in predicting language outcomes among preschoolers
with developmental language disorder. International Journal of
Speech Language Pathology, 24(4), 362-
374. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2021.1998629
Sanjeevan, T., Rosenbaum, D. A., Miller, C. A., Hell, J. G., Weiss, D.
J., & Mainela-Arnold, E. (2015). Motor issues in specific language
impairment: A window into the underlying impairment. Current
Developmental Disorders Reports, 2(3), 228-236.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-015-0051-9
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E.,
& O'Brien, M. (1997). Prevalence of specific language impairment in
kindergarten children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research, 40(6), 1245-1260. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4006.1245
Acknowledgements
Dr Colette Fegan, Sheffield Hallam
University
Orla Urquhart, Sensory Integration
Education
Contact
kirsty.mansfield@nhs.net