The mum of a seven-year-old girl from Sittingbourne who was diagnosed with a communication disorder wants to raise awareness of the condition to help others.

Jen Manser’s daughter Grace was diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in June last year.

DLD is a type of speech, language and communication need that affects the way children understand and use language.

Mrs Manser, who works at The Acorn Speech and Language Centre in Sittingbourne, is hoping to raise the profile of DLD ahead of its awareness day on Friday.

The 32-year-old said: “I am passionate about raising the profile for DLD. My daughter was diagnosed after failing in mainstream school for nearly three whole years.

“Had I known about DLD sooner, she may not be as far behind for her age as she is now.”

Mrs Manser, who lives in Sittingbourne, said World Autism Day is celebrated annually and the condition affects less than 1% of people worldwide, whilst DLD affects 7.6% of the population and “hardly anyone has ever heard of it”. “This needs to change,” she added.

The mother-of-two said if more people knew about the condition, perhaps more children would get help sooner.

“It was a really long process getting Grace diagnosed,” she said. “She didn’t make progress at school for a long time but because there’s such little understanding of DLD she just went missed.”

She added: “I always knew there was a problem and no one listened to me. It wasn’t until she started at The Oaks nursery that it was picked up and she got extra support.”

Grace is now in Year 3 at The Acorn, which is on the same site as The Oaks and Minterne Junior schools.

Mrs Manser said: “She is now in the best possible place for her and if I can get one parent to think DLD is what their child could have and look into it, I would have done my job.

“There’s probably other parents out there who are in the same boat as I was – there just needs to be more awareness raised about it.”

For more information on the condition, click here.

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