The 2026 Dorothy Bishop Lecture with Professor Chantal Desmarais

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Developmental Language Disorder in Adolescence: Linking Language, Self-Knowledge, and Self-Determination for Intervention Design

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects learning, relationships, and wellbeing across the lifespan. At adolescence, cognitive and social demands increase, an aspect of development that must be integrated in planning intervention. This presentation explores how language abilities relate to adolescents’ development of self-knowledge, a foundation for self-determination. It focusses on school-based interventions that treat language as a target of intervention while adding the notion of language as a tool for self-understanding. Working with school personnel, adolescents engage in activities that build communication and reflection skills. Supporting language in everyday settings and with familiar partners offers a promising pathway to strengthen self-knowledge, participation, and autonomy in young people with DLD.

Professor Chantal Desmarais, Université Laval

After completing a M.Sc. in speech-language pathology from McGill University, Chantal Desmarais worked as a clinician in Ottawa, Vancouver, Madison, WI, and Quebec City. She obtained her PhD in 2007 and has since worked as a professor at l’Université Laval and researcher at the Cirris. Her teaching and research focus on developmental language disorders as well as on intervention with children and adolescents who have communication difficulties with a special interest for functional impacts of language disorders.