Sensory Processing Profiles in Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Comparison With Typically Developing Peers

Abstract

This study examined the sensory processing profiles of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) in comparison with those of typically developing (TD) peers and explored the relationships between sensory processing and language skills. Participants comprised 30 children with DLD and 30 TD children aged 60 to 84 months. The Dunn Sensory Profile and the Turkish School-Age Language Development Test were administered. Mann–Whitney U tests revealed that children with DLD scored significantly lower than TD peers on the fine motor/perceptual ( r b = .58), poor registration (reflecting behaviors associated with reduced noticing of sensory input; r b = .46), inattention/distractibility ( r b = .39), and emotionally reactive ( r b = .37) factors, as well as on the low registration ( r b = .50) and sensory sensitivity ( r b = .30) quadrants. Within the DLD group, several moderate correlations were observed between sensory processing domains and language scores before correction for multiple comparisons. However, none of these associations remained statistically significant after applying the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate correction, indicating that they should be interpreted as exploratory. Overall, the findings suggest that children with DLD exhibit distinct sensory processing profiles compared with their TD peers, while the observed sensory-language associations require confirmation in larger, adequately powered studies. These findings support considering sensory processing assessment as one component of a comprehensive clinical evaluation of children with DLD.