Olly’s Adventures: Play-Driven Language Intervention for Children with DLD

Around 1 in 14 children are affected by Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) - a condition that impacts a child’s ability to understand and use language, despite normal intelligence and hearing. These children are at higher risk of academic struggles, social exclusion and mental health challenges.

Research consistently shows that play is one of the most powerful contexts for language acquisition, yet it remains underused in formal intervention settings.

An innovative project reframing language intervention for children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), is moving beyond the traditional speech and language therapy that often relies on structured tasks and repetition, to a more playful and immersive experience at the heart of language learning, thanks to a new boardgame.

Developed through a collaboration between the University of Malta and game designers from Flying Squirrel Games, Olly’s Adventures blends the fun of a board game with language tasks grounded in therapy principles. Children take on colourful characters, explore themed spaces like playgrounds and markets, and complete language challenges designed to reinforce vocabulary, comprehension, and expressive skills. By transforming therapeutic activities into game-like quests, the tool encourages participation not as a task, but as play.

Olly’s Adventures: The City of Two Languages, reflects the reality of bilingual communities like Malta where children navigate both Maltese and English from an early age, by incorporating dual-language elements that support not just clinical intervention but the everyday linguistic experience of young learners.

The game was developed thanks to the Flying Squirrel Games studio in collaboration with Prof. Ing. Philip Farrugia and Dr Ing. Edward Abela from the Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, Prof. Daniela Gatt and Prof. Helen Grech from the Department of Human Communication Disorders and Sciences, and Ms Donia Stellini, who was reading for her Masters’ degree whilst the game was being developed. Since then, the board game went live and is now accessible online.  

By weaving language learning into play, Olly’s Adventures exemplifies a new direction in child intervention: one where discipline meets delight, and where the joy of play becomes a powerful engine for communication development.

Watch the video and read more on THINK, the University’s Research Magazine.