ACQ Vol 11 No 1 2009

MULTICULTURALISM AND DYSPHAGIA

H ow do language and literacy skills develop, what makes language and reading more difficult for some children, and what might lead to earlier help for children with language and/or reading problems? These are some of the questions that the Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS) hopes to answer. Led by Professor Sheena Reilly, ELVS involves a number of institutions 1 and a large team 2 including speech pathologists, psychologists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians and a paediatrician. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has funded two studies. The first followed over 1900 children from 8 months through to 4 years of age. The second is continuing the study to 7 years of age with an expanded remit to address the development of both language and literacy. All parents who attended the 8-month check-up or hearing screen at maternal and child health centres in six local government areas in Melbourne were invited to participate 3 . Parents have completed questionnaires about child develop­ ment, family circumstances and environmental factors of interest at 8, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months of age. Measures of communication were also included. For example, at 8, 12 and 24 months, parents completed the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS) Infant–Toddler Checklist (Wetherby & Prizant, 2002). At 12 months of age, half the children were administered the CSBS Behaviour Sample by speech pathologists. At age four years, over 1600 face-to-face assessments were completed. These included the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool – Second edition (CELF P2) (Wiig, Secord & Semel, 2006), Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation – Second edition (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000), and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test – Second edition (KBIT 2) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2004). All the families received feedback about their child’s performance and these results were shared with speech pathologists in the community. Families have been kept up-to-date with ELVS’ progress through newsletters and a website. Children receive an “elf” birthday card each year which they love! Many families have been invited to participate in sub-studies such as one investigating bilingualism led by Ruth Nicholls (see page 63). The follow-up stage of ELVS involves a parent question­ naire around the child’s 5th, 6th and 7th birthdays, as well as a face-to-face assessment at 5 and 7. This assessment includes the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals – Fourth edition – Australian Standardised Edition (CELF-4 Australian) R esearch U pdates The early language in Victoria study Laura Conway 1 Participating institutions: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (lead institution), Royal Children’s Hospital, University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, Macquarie University, University of Sydney. 2 ELVS team: Professor Sheena Reilly, Dr Patricia Eadie, Professor Edith Bavin, Professor Melissa Wake, Professor Margot Prior, Dr Lesley Bretherton, Dr Joanne Williams, Professor Anne Castles, Professor Mark Onslow , Dr Ann Packman, Associate Professor Jenni Oates, Dr Obioha Ukoumunne, Professor John Carlin, Dr Jemma Skeat, Yin Barrett, Catherine Bolzonello, Petrea Cahir, Eileen Cini, Laura Conway, Kyriaki Ttofari Eecen, Cattram Nguyen, Ruth Nicholls, Kirsty MacKenzie, Nadia Petruccelli, Lauren Pigdon, Lisa Quinn, Tina Scalzo, Carly Veness, Amy Watts, Andrea Wong. 3 Exclusion criteria: developmental delay, cerebral palsy, or other serious intellectual or physical disability, or if the parents did not speak and understand English.

(Semel, Wiig & Secord, 2006), Children’s Test of Non-word Repetition (CNRep) (Gathercole & Baddeley, 1996), The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) (Wagner, Torgesen & Rashotte, 1999), and letter name and sound awareness. As with the 4-year-old assessment, parents will receive feedback on their child’s performance, this time in comparison to how they performed at age four. Early findings from ELVS have been published in a number of journals (see below). Furthermore, ELVS has attracted both national and international interest, with results being presented at numerous conferences, including most recently at the joint conference between the New Zealand Speech- Language Therapists Association and Speech Pathology Australia in Auckland (2008), the 12th Congress of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) in Istanbul (2008) and at the XI International Con­ gress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) in Scotland (2008). The research team is currently analysing data for future publications. For more information, please contact the ELVS office on 03 9345 5484, email: elvs@rch.org.au, or look online at www.rch. org.au/speech ELVS publications Bavin, E., Prior, M., Reilly, S., Bretherton, L., Williams, J., Eadie, P., Barrett, Y., & Ukoumunne, O. (2008). The early language in Victoria study: Predicting vocabulary at 1 and 2 years from gesture and object use. Journal of Child Language , 35 , 687–701. Reilly, S., Eadie, P., Bavin, E., Wake, M., Prior, M., J., W., Bretherton, L., Barrett, Y. & Okoumunne, O. (2006). Growth of infant communication between 8 and 12 months: Apopulation study. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health , 42 , 764–770. Reilly, S., Wake, M., Bavin, E., Prior, M., Williams, J., Bretherton, L., Eadie, P., Barrett, Y. & Ukoumunne, O. (2007). Predicting language at 2 years: A prospective community study. Pediatrics , 120 , e1441–e1449. Reilly, S., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Bavin, E., Prior, M., Eadie, P., Cini, E., Bolzonello, C., & Ukomunne, O. C. (in press). Predicting stuttering onset by age 3: A prospective, com­ munity cohort study. Pediatrics . Prior, M., Bavin, E., Cini, E., Reilly, S., Bretherton, L., Wake, M., & Eadie, P. (2008). Influences on communicative develop­ ment at 24 months of age: Child temperament, behaviour problems, and maternal factors. Infant Behaviour and Development , 31 , 270–279. References Goldman, R., & Fristoe, M. (2000). Goldman Fristoe test of articulation (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: NCS Pearson Inc. Kaufman, A. S. & Kaufman, N.L. (2004). Kaufman brief intelligence test (2nd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: AGS Publishing. Gathercole, S. E. & Baddeley, A. D. (1996). The children’s test of non-word repetition . London: The Psychological Corporation Limited. Semel, E., Wiig, E., & Secord W. (2006). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals – 4th Ed. Australian. Marickville, NSW: Harcourt Assessment Inc.

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