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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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Glue EarGlue ear is when a child's middle ear fills with sticky fluid behind the ear drum. A common condition, glue ear usually goes undetected, as it's not an obvious condition from the outside.
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Paediatric post-grommets surgery review: Audiology-led clinicOtitis media has a high prevalence in childhood, and grommet insertion is the most common surgical treatment for OM. The public health system in Australia faces considerable strains, including high demand for Ear, Nose and Throat specialists. Extending the scope of practice for audiologists to manage post-operative care for children receiving grommets has the potential to alleviate this burden.
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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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Safety, tolerability, and effect of a single aural dose of Dornase alfa at the time of ventilation tube surgery for otitis media: A Phase 1b double randomized control trialOne third of children require repeat ventilation tube insertion (VTI) for otitis media. Disease recurrence is associated with persistent middle ear bacterial biofilms. With demonstration that Dornase alfa (a DNase) disrupts middle ear effusion biofilms ex vivo, we identified potential for this as an anti-biofilm therapy to prevent repeat VTI. First, safety and tolerability needed to be measured.
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Evidence for shared deficits in identifying emotions from faces and from voices in autism spectrum disorders and specific language impairmentWhile autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) have traditionally been conceptualized as distinct disorders, recent findings...
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Aspects of speech-language abilities are influenced by MECP2 mutation type in girls with Rett syndromeThis study investigates relationships between methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene (MECP2) mutation type and speech-language abilities in girls with Rett syndrome.
News & Events
The Kids researchers named as finalists in 2020 Premier’s Science AwardsTwo The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers have been named as finalists in the 2020 Western Australian Premier’s Science Awards.
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Prenatal, perinatal, and neonatal risk factors for specific language impairment: A prospective pregnancy cohort studyAlthough genetic factors are known to play a causal role in specific language impairment (SLI), environmental factors may also be important. This study...
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High pneumococcal serotype specific IgG, IgG1 and IgG2 levels in serum and the middle ear of children with recurrent acute otitis mediaRecurrent acute otitis media (AOM), frequently caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, is a major paediatric health problem.
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Early development of emerging and English-proficient bilingual children at school entry in an Australian population cohortChildren who enter school with limited proficiency in the language of instruction face a range of challenges in negotiating this new context, yet limited...
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Predominance of nontypeable haemophilus influenzae in children with otitis mediaIn Australia the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) is administered at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, with no booster dose.
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Early motor development is part of the resource mix for language acquisition -Early motor development is part of the resource mix for language acquisition - a commentary on Iverson's 'Developing language in a developing body: the relat...
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Nasopharyngeal carriage of Haemophilus haemolyticus in otitis-prone and healthy childrenHaemophilus haemolyticus is often incorrectly categorized as nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) upon culture. PCR analyses of 266 NTHI-like nasopharyngea
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Inner speech impairments in autismThree experiments investigated the role of inner speech deficit in cognitive performances of children with autism.
News & Events
Rethink needed on literacy interventionA new study by The Kids Research Institute Australia has found current early intervention programs are failing to identify a large proportion of children with language an
News & Events
Reading books boosts child languageA new study provides more evidence that reading books to young children and helping them visually to follow the story improves a child's language.