"Disconnected From Everyone and Everything Around Them": A Mixed Method Study to Explore the Perspectives of Children With Language Difficulties and Their Caregivers On Mental Health Concerns and Mental Health Support.

Only four children were interviewed, so their views do not appear in every theme, and no clinicians or teachers were asked at all. Families who were already worried about their child's mental health were more likely to volunteer, so the 91% figure probably overstates how common these concerns are among all children with language difficulties. The interview families were all in Australia, and everyone was recruited through DLD networks, social media and the researchers' own contacts, so this is a self-selected group rather than a representative sample. Most children had a parent-reported diagnosis of DLD, but some had no formal diagnosis or were still being assessed, and a few had autism or speech sound disorder, so the group is not uniform. Caregivers reported on their child's mental health; the study did not use diagnostic assessment, so these are concerns rather than confirmed conditions.

The work was funded by the Curtin enAble Institute, The DLD Project (International DLD Research Grant) and Healthway (grant 34838), with several authors supported by National Health and Medical Research Council and Stan Perron Charitable Foundation grants. The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The DLD Project is an advocacy organisation for DLD and was also one of the DLD-specific networks used to recruit survey participants.

Do not read the 91% as the rate of mental health problems among children with language difficulties. These were caregivers recruited largely through DLD networks and social media, and the authors themselves say that families already concerned about their child's mental health were more likely to take part, so the true figure is probably lower. The movement and art therapy suggestions came from caregivers, not from a tested treatment.