Understanding how language and reading problems develop: a population-based longitudinal study from infancy to age 7

Funding Activity

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Funded Activity Summary

Early language and reading problems are common and therefore significant public health problems. They are disabling and have life-long implications for oral and written communication skills, social and emotional well-being, cognition, behaviour, academic achievement and employment. This study will address the following three problems: 1. To date no study has documented how language and reading problems develop from infancy (8 months) through to school age (7 years). 2. Little is known about risk factors, identified early in infancy and childhood, that can be reliably used to predict language and reading problems later in childhood. 3. The relationships between language difficulties and reading problems are poorly understood. Therefore, we currently have no satisfactory methods for reliably detecting which children at much younger ages are at risk of later language disorders or reading problems. Without this information it is impossible to develop effective prevention and early intervention programs. These programs are critical if we are to: a) Prevent language and reading problems from occurring, thereby reducing the prevalence of the problem b) Intervene early in childhood, thereby reducing in the longer term the burden and cost associated with language and reading problems. The proposed study builds on an existing substantial investment by the NHMRC in the Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS). It will provide a world-first description of the evolution of language difficulties and reading problems from infancy through to school age within a single population cohort.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2010

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $667,507.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Clinical Sciences

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Child language development | Child language disorders | Educational outcomes | Language development | Language impairment | Literacy | Reading problems | Specific language impairment