Camouflaging in Developmental Language Disorder: The Views of Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Parents

Hobson, H.M., & Lee, A. (2022). Camouflaging in Developmental Language Disorder: The Views of Speech and Language Pathologists and Parents. Communication Disorders Quarterly, OnlineFirst, https://doi.org/10.1177/152574012211209

Camouflaging is a term used to describe behaviours or strategies that a neurodiverse person uses either knowingly (consciously) or unknowingly (unconsciously) to minimize their neurodivergent characteristics. Camouflaging has been studied in the context of autism. Autistic individuals report that camouflaging is emotionally draining and exhausting because the camouflaging behaviours require additional cognitive effort to maintain.

This present study is the first to examine camouflaging in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Using a qualitative descriptive design, the authors interviewed 6 SLPs and 6 parents of children with DLD. A wide variety of behaviours considered to reflect were noted including conversational tools (e.g., scripts; saying they understood when they had not), relying on others (e.g., pausing and allowing others to fill in), avoidance (e.g., playing by themselves; saying ‘I don’t know’), nonverbal behaviours (e.g., smiling, nodding), disruptive behaviours (e.g., acting silly), other cognitive abilities (e.g., using good problem solving skills to work around a language difficulty), and copying (e.g., doing what the other children are doing). Some impacts of camouflaging were that intervention strategies might not be employed because the problem is not recognized or the child prefers not to have to use the strategy. Exhaustion was commonly reported with reports of children ‘holding it together at school and then having a meltdown at home’. Personality factors influenced motivation for camouflaging for the children but also people’s responses. For example, children might be perceived as being difficult or rude. The authors indicate that there are likely more camouflaging behaviours than were captured in the current study.

Children with DLD may knowingly or unknowingly camouflage their language struggles. Understanding camouflaging could help in understanding a child’s presenting profile.

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