Bulletin

Issue: May 2005

News

Why do children develop language problems?

A La Trobe University team is leading ground-breaking research to discover why young children develop language problems.

Team members are working with researchers from the Royal Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Australian Stuttering Research Centre at the University of Sydney to examine the development of speech, language and stuttering in pre-school infants.

The Associate Dean of Research in La Trobe’s Faculty of Health Sciences, speech pathologist Professor Sheena Reilly, is leading the study.

La Trobe’s team comprises another speech pathologist, Dr Patricia Eadie of the School of Human Communication Sciences and Associate Professor Edith Bavin of the School Psychological Sciences.

‘This work is of great significance because of the growing importance of communication skills in the modern world,’ says Professor Reilly.

In Australia, one in seven individuals is affected by a communication disorder and many of these originate in childhood. They can be disabling with life-long implications for overall communication skills, social and emotional well-being, cognition, behaviour, academic achievement and employment.

In the USA two-thirds of people with communication disorders are unemployed or in the lowest income brackets. Unemployment is 75.6 per cent in those unable to speak intelligibly.

Professor Reilly’s team was awarded $506,000 from the National Health and Medical Research Council for a five-year project entitled ‘Early Language in Victoria Study’ (ELVS).

It aims to investigate whether risk factors for language delay at four years can be reliably identified at eight, 12, 24 or 36 months. The study began in 2003 with the recruitment of 1917 eight-month-old infants, 973 boys and 944 girls.

Early speech and language data was collected at eight and 12 months. The next wave of data collection at 24 months is currently in progress. Data will also be collected at 36 months and at outcome when the children are four years of age.

In 2004 the team joined forces with researchers Professor Mark Onlsow and Dr Ann Packman from the Australian Stuttering Research Centre at the University of Sydney to explore the onset and natural history of stuttering in these same children.

Professor Reilly said that although stuttering was one of the oldest conditions known to man, and one of the most researched communication disorders, its cause remained unknown and there were countless unanswered questions about its onset and development.

‘For the first time we are examining many factors thought to be predictive of, or implicated in, the onset of stuttering. These include language levels, temperament and family interaction prior to the onset of the condition.’

In November 2004 the combined research team was awarded a $260,000 ARC Discovery grant for the study entitled “A study of early stuttering”.
Professor Reilly said results would generate unique data of interest to numerous researchers around the world. Already it is generating interest following conference presentation in Australia. During 2005 a series of presentations will made to audiences by the research team in England, Scotland, France and Germany.

Ultimately the team hopes that the earlier these problems are detected, the better the chances are of helping the children. In some cases prevention may be possible and for many, treatment or therapy can resolve or greatly alleviate the problem.

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