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Aragung buraay: culture, identity and positive futures for Australian children: Dharawal language: aragung = shield for war, protection; buraay = childFiona Pete Stanley Azzopardi FAA FASSA MSc MD FFPHM FAFPHM FRACP FRANZCOG HonDSc HonDUniv HonFRACGP HonMD HonFRCPCH HonLLB (honoris causa) PhD, FRACP
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How we measure language skills of children at scale: A call to move beyond domain-specific tests as a proxy for languageThe aim of this research note is to encourage child language researchers and clinicians to give careful consideration to the use of domain-specific tests as a proxy for language; particularly in the context of large-scale studies and for the identification of language disorder in clinical practice.
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Autism and diagnostic substitution: Evidence from a study of adults with a history of developmental language disorderRates of diagnosis of autism have risen since 1980, raising the question of whether some children who previously had other diagnoses are now being diagnosed...
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Differentiating between childhood communication disorders: Implications for language and psychosocial outcomesDifferentiating between childhood communication disorders: Implications for language and psychosocial outcomes
News & Events
New clues into language developmentA world-first study from The Kids for Child Health Research has identified risk factors for receptive language development in Australian children.
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Toddler TalkA child's ability to communicate is one of their most important developmental achievements. It builds a foundation for everything that is to come.
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Impact of ventilation tube insertion on long-term language outcomes at 6 and 10 years of age: A prospective pregnancy cohort studyInvestigating the impact of early childhood ventilation tube insertion (VTI) on long-term language outcomes.
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The education word gap emerges by 18 months: findings from an Australian prospective studyThe idea of the '30 million word gap' suggests families from more socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds engage in more verbal interactions with their child than disadvantaged families. Initial findings from the Language in Little Ones (LiLO) study up to 12 months showed no word gap between maternal education groups.
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The oral and written narrative language skills of adolescent students in youth detention and the impact of language disorderUnmet language and literacy needs are common among young people who are involved with youth justice systems. However, there is limited research regarding the functional text-level language skills of this population with regard to narrative macrostructure (story grammar) and microstructure (semantics and syntax) elements. In this study, we examined macrostructure and microstructure elements in the oral and written narrative texts of 24 adolescent students of a youth detention centre. The students, who were aged 14- to 17- years, were all speakers of Standard Australian English, and 11 (46%) students met criteria for language disorder (LD).
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Centralising Local Aboriginal Language and Culture in Healthy Skin Books on the See Treat Prevent (SToP) Trial in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia: A Process and Impact InquiryLanguage is significant for communicating knowledge across cultures and generations and has the power to attribute meanings and alter our worldviews. More than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders languages were spoken in 1788. This number has diminished to approximately 110 languages spoken in 2016, of which 90% were considered endangered in 2019. Language custodians and speakers across Australia are working to preserve and ensure languages are strongly spoken into the future.