Authors: Sophie Brown and Sarah Wright
Published: 2025
Publication: DECP Debate

Language plays a crucial role in children’s development and daily lives. However, it is estimated that 7.58% of children in the United Kingdom are entering mainstream schools with a language disorder, without a known cause, that hinders their academic progress. This is often called developmental language disorder (DLD), although there is contention within the literature and amongst practitioners about the disorder’s diagnostic criteria, name and aetiology. Nevertheless, DLD has a significant negative impact on children’s daily functioning and life outcomes. One aspect of language that children with DLD often struggle with is grammar. Susan Ebbels, a speech and language therapist, created the shape coding system to visually and explicitly teach children with DLD grammar. Shape coding is built upon other similar systems to enable more complex grammar to be represented and is theoretically underpinned by the procedural deficit hypothesis (discussed in this paper). A systematic literature search was conducted with a targeted search question to explore “how effective is shape coding at improving understanding and use of grammar in school-aged children with developmental language disorder?”. After screening and exclusions, five studies were identified and evaluated. Due to methodological limitations and variation, it was impossible to conclude whether shape coding is an effective intervention and if it would be effective for any area of grammar. Consequently, further large-scale research is necessary to determine shape coding’s effectiveness. Implications for schools are considered, such as whether shape coding is only appropriate and cost-effective in specialist settings delivered by speech and language therapists.

Brown, S. & Wright, S. (2025). How Effective is Shape Coding at Improving Understanding and use of Grammar in School-Aged Children with Developmental Language Disorder? DECP Debate, 191,23-35. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsdeb.2025.1.191.23

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