Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language
This project is completed.
We use the latest approaches in molecular genetics, neuro-imaging, epidemiology, biostatistics and health economics to investigate factors that affect and improve child language and development.
The Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language is an international collaboration of child language experts.
Why research child language?
Language impairment is common.
One in five children under five have difficulties understanding what is said to them and/or expressing themselves.
Language impairment has persistent and far-reaching consequences.
Children with a language impairment struggle to make and keep friends, regulate their behaviour and negotiate new experiences. Children face poorer educational, employment and mental health outcomes and are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour and criminal activity. This affects us through increased welfare burdens and reduced national productivity.
Elevating child language to an issue that is core to the health of nations is central to the CRE’s vision. By 2017, the CRE will have created the world’s largest harmonised language repository, bringing language into the lexicon of non-communicable disease and population health. This language repository will provide an unprecedented opportunity to analyse how language develops, what goes wrong, what this costs for families and society, and when and how to intervene.
Our team
| Group member | Role |
|---|---|
| Professor Sharon Goldfeld | Theme Director |
| Professor Melissa Wake | Group Leader & Chief Investigator |
| Professor Angela Morgan | Group Leader |
| Dr Fiona Mensah | Team Leader/Senior Research Fellow |
| Professor Sheena Reilly | Lead Investigator |
| Professor James Law | Speech and Language Therapist |
| Associate Professor Angela Morgan | Speech Pathologist and Speech Neuroscientist |
| Dr Fiona Mensah | Statistician |
| Professor Jan Nicholson | Psychologist |
| Associate Professor Lisa Gold | Health Economist |
| Professor Sharon Goldfeld | Paediatrician |
Our projects
Early Language in Victoria study (ELVS)
The Early Language in Victoria study (ELVS) 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. This information will be helpful in developing early intervention and prevention programs for children.
Language for Learning
This trial examined the costs and benefits of screening for language impairment at four years of age, and providing those children identified with low language, a one-on-one, community-based intervention program. This study tested whether a child’s language and pre-literacy skills at four years of age were improved if their parents were encouraged to read with them.
Memory Maestros
This study examines how important working memory is for learning and whether playing certain computerised games each day for five weeks can improve working memory and learning.
Early Home Learning Study at School
The original EHLS study examined the best way to support parents in creating a rich home-learning environment and foster language development in their young children. This study will follow the children through their first years of school to assess whether the benefits of those strategies last beyond pre-school.
Children with Hearing Impairment in Victoria Outcome St
This study followed children with hearing loss from early primary school into adulthood to assess what impact hearing loss had on both the children’s lives and those of their families.
Statewide Comparison of Outcomes of Hearing Loss (SCOUT)
This study assessed the benefits and costs of screening all children for hearing loss at birth.
Victorian Childhood Hearing Impairment Longitudinal Databank (VicCHILD)
VicCHILD collects information about children born with permanent hearing loss over the course of their life to understand why some children with a hearing loss do well, while others experience greater difficulties. This information could then improve the academic, social and emotional lives of children with hearing loss.
Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a major study following the development of 10,000 children and families from all parts of Australia.
Iowa Longitudinal Study (USA)
This USA study examined the prevalence of language impairment in preschool children, and the impact differences in language development had for children both with and without language impairment.
Outcomes of Children with Hearing Loss (USA)
This USA study examines the developmental, behavioural, and familial outcomes of children with mild to severe hearing loss.
Millennium Cohort (UK)
This UK study is a longitudinal survey following the lives of 19,000 children born in the UK in the year 2000. It charts the conditions of social, economic and health advantages and disadvantages facing children born at the start of the 21st century.
Funding
- National Health and Medical Research Council NHMRC)
- Telematics Trust
Collaborations
Our Research Partners
- The Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University
- The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
- The University of Melbourne
- Newcastle University, UK
- Deakin University
- La Trobe University
Policy, Practice and Implementation Committee
The Centre works closely with a Policy, Practice and Implementation Committee made up of policy experts from the education and health sectors. It provides an opportunity for two-way knowledge exchange between researchers and policy makers to ensure that the Centre’s research questions reflect current policy and practice priorities.
Sara Glover, Director of Education Policy at the Mitchell Institute, chairs the Committee. It includes members from:
- Department of Education and Training (Victoria)
- Department of Health (Victoria)
- Catholic Education Melbourne
- Inner North West Melbourne Medicare
- Victorian Principals Association
- Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth
Other partnerships
- The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre
Our publications
- Identifying and managing common childhood language and speech impairments. 2015. Reilly S, McKean C, Morgan A, Wake M. Identifying and managing common childhood language and speech impairments. BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 350 : h2318(2015) PubMed PDF.
- Levers for Language Growth: Characteristics and Predictors of Language Trajectories between 4 and 7 Years. 2015. McKean C, Mensah FK, Eadie P, Bavin EL, Bretherton L, Cini E, Reilly S. Levers for Language Growth: Characteristics and Predictors of Language Trajectories between 4 and 7 Years. PLOS ONE 10 (8) : e0134251(2015) PubMed (Grant IDs: 237106, 9436958, 1041947, 1023493, 1037449, 1041892).
- Neural correlates of childhood language disorder: a systematic review. 2015. Mayes AK, Reilly S, Morgan AT. Neural correlates of childhood language disorder: a systematic review. DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLOGY (2015) PubMed (Grant IDs: 1023493, 607315, 1041892).
- Schooling Duration Rather Than Chronological Age Predicts Working Memory Between 6 and 7 Years: Memory Maestros Study. 2015. Roberts G, Quach J, Mensah F, Gathercole S, Gold L, Anderson P, Spencer-Smith M, Wake M. Schooling Duration Rather Than Chronological Age Predicts Working Memory Between 6 and 7 Years: Memory Maestros Study. JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS : 1 - 7(2015) PubMed (Grant IDs: 1005317, 1046518, 1035100, 628371, 1037449).
- Two-Year Outcomes of a Population-Based Intervention for Preschool Language Delay: An RCT. 2015. Wake M, Levickis P, Tobin S, Gold L, Ukoumunne OC, Goldfeld S, Zens N, Le HN, Law J, Reilly S. Two-Year Outcomes of a Population-Based Intervention for Preschool Language Delay: An RCT. PEDIATRICS 136 (4) : e838 - 47(2015) PubMed (Grant IDs: 607407, 546405, 1046518, 436914, 1041892, 491210, 425855, 1035100, 1023493).