Speech & Language
Better diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment for children with speech and language disorder.
Speech and language skills form the foundation for later educational and academic achievement. These skills are also critical for social and mental health development. The Speech and Language group at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute is interested in how speech, language, and literacy develop, and how disorders occur in each of these areas.
The group examines genetic, neural, and social-environmental predictors of speech, language, and literacy development. The team’s overarching aim is to develop intervention strategies based on research evidence so children with speech and language difficulties reach their full potential. Our work involves the identification of genes associated with severe childhood speech disorders such as apraxia of speech and dysarthria. We also conduct speech and language characterisation (phenotyping) studies in rare genetic conditions to provide better diagnostic, prognostic, and management data for affected families and clinicians working in the area. We also conduct studies of speech and language development in the general population and we are working on a novel digital tool for the assessment of speech disorder.
Our collaborations with leading national and international researchers, genetic advocacy groups, and clinicians enable us to conduct and disseminate with global impact. Our work provides better insights into how speech and language develop, what goes wrong and why it matters to those most affected.
Professor Angela Morgan: Speech disorders in children
Did you know one in five Australian children start school with a speech or language disorder? MCRI researchers have found that in some children this may have a genetic course.
More information
Group Leaders
Group Members
Our projects
Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS)
This study aims to learn more about how language develops from infancy (eight months) to adolescence and in particular, why language development is more difficult for some children. The current phase of the ELVS has moved to the University of Melbourne, and is no longer funded through Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Researchers can visit Lifecourse to view a full list of domains and measures used at each stage of the study.
Read more...NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence - Translational Centre for Speech Disorders
We are studying the underlying causes of speech disorders and not just surface language disorder symptoms. Understanding the genetics of speech disorders will help transform diagnosis and prognosis and enable precision therapies to improve long-term outcomes. Our National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence – Translational Centre for Speech Disorders is an international collaboration of experts in the fields of speech pathology, clinical genetics, neurology, neuroscience, and molecular biology.
Reverse phenotyping projects
Our team is investigating the speech and language phenotypes of several rare genetic conditions, including Koolen de Vries Syndrome, SETBP1, FOXP1, FOXP2, DDX3X, CDK13, BRPF1, DYRK1A, amongst others. This research supports our understanding of the role these genes play in speech and language development, and informs our clinical knowledge and treatment of speech and language disorders in these conditions. This study is approved by The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) ethics committee and funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence grant.
Genetics of stuttering
Our team, with multiple partners, has formed an international consortium focused on understanding the genetic basis of stuttering.
Pharmacological treatment of childhood apraxia of speech
This research investigates whether the drug methylphenidate (MPH) can improve speech and language outcomes in children with apraxia of speech (CAS). MPH is currently approved as a treatment for ADHD in children. This is the first randomised clinical trial to evaluate MPH as a potential treatment for CAS. Led by the Speech & Language Group, this research brings together MCRI, RCH and the University of Melbourne speech pathology, paediatrics, neurology and neuropsychology clinicians and researchers. This trial is approved by The Royal Children’s Hospital ethics committee (HREC 77169).
Funding
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence
- NHMRC Project grants
- NHMRC Investigator grant
- HEARing CRC
- March of Dimes
- SFARI - Variation in Individuals Project
Collaborations
- The Royal Children’s Hospital
- The University of Melbourne
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
- University College London
- Manchester University
- Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen
- Radboud University Medical Centre
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston
- Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard
Featured publications
- Atypical development of Broca’s area in a large family with inherited stuttering. 2020.
Brain. Thompson-Lake, D. G., Scerri, T. S., Block, S., Turner, S. J., Reilly, S., Kefalianos, E., Bonthrone, A. F., Helbig, I., Bahlo, M., Scheffer, I. E., Hildebrand, M. S., Liegeois, F. J. & Morgan, A. T. - Severe childhood speech disorder: Gene discovery highlights transcriptional dysregulation. 2020.
Neurology, 94(20), e2148-e2167. Hildebrand, M. S., Jackson, V. E., Scerri, T. S., Van Reyk, O., Coleman, M., Braden, R. O., Turner, S., Rigbye, K., Boys, A., Barton, S., Webster, R., Fahey, M., Saunders, K., Parry-Fielder, B., Paxton, G., Hayman, M., Coman, D., Goel, H., Baxter, A., Ma, A., David, N., Reilly, S., Detaltycki, M., Liegeois, F. J., Connelly, A., Gecz, J., Fisher, S. E., Amor, D, D. J., Scheffer, I. E., Bahlo, M., & Morgan, A. T. - Dorsal language stream anomalies in an inherited speech disorder. 2019.
Brain, 142(4), 966-977. Liégeois, F. J., Turner, S. J., Mayes, A., Bonthrone, A. F., Boys, A., Smith, L., ... & Morgan, A. T. - Inhibition of Upf2-dependent nonsense-mediated decay leads to behavioral and neurophysiological abnormalities by activating the immune response. 2019.
Neuron, 104(4), 665-679. Johnson, J. L., Stoica, L., Liu, Y., Zhu, P. J., Bhattacharya, A., Buffington, S. A., Huq, R., Eissa, N. T., Larsson, O., Porse, B. T., Domingo, E., Nawaz, U., Carroll, R., Jolly, L., Scerri, T. S., Kim, H., Brignell, A., Coleman, M., Braden, R., Kini, U., Jackson, V., Baxter, A., Bahlo, M., Scheffer, I. E., Amor, D. J., Hildebrand, M. S., Bonnen, P. E., Beeton, C., Gecz, J., Morgan, A. T. & Costa-Mattioli, M. - A set of regulatory genes co-expressed in embryonic human brain is implicated in disrupted speech development. 2019.
Molecular psychiatry, 24(7), 1065-1078. Eising, E., Carrion-Castillo, A., Vino, A., Strand, E. A., Jakielski, K. J., Scerri, T. S., Hildebrand, M. S., Webster, R., Ma, A., Mazoyer, B., Francks, C., Bahlo, M., Scheffer, I. E., Morgan A. T., Shriberg, L. D. & Fisher, S. E.
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2021
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33589534/2020
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