Language delay at four years of age Mental and Behavioural Disorders Specific developmental disorders of speech and language
Conditions
Interventions
Allocation to the intervention group will be a simple randomisation using computerised sequence generation, conducted by an independent statistician and concealed from the principal researchers to the
the 5-year-old blinded assessment
and an exit feedback/planning session in the following month. Sessions will be delivered in a private room at a local centre (e.g., Maternal and Child Health Centres [MCH]) by a trained researcher-the
Sponsors
Royal Children's Hospital (Australia)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: The trial will involve all subjects who as babies and toddlers participated in two completed population-based trials - Let's Read and Let's Learn Language (ISRCTN20953675). These were conducted in eight local government areas across Melbourne, Australia. Children will be invited into the new trial as they turn 4 years old. Eligible participants will be 1. Children who, at 4 years of age, have expressive and/or receptive language scores more than 1 SD below the normative mean on the CELF-P2 2. Their parents
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. Intellectual disability 2. Major medical conditions 3. Hearing loss greater than 40 dB Hearing Loss (HL) Scale in the better ear 4. Autism spectrum disorders 5. Parents who need an interpreter Most such children are already excluded as they have demonstrated competence in their previous research trial.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Direct assessment of child?s expressive and receptive language ability and expressive and receptive vocabulary; all collected at 5 and 6 years. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Parent reported pragmatic skills, behaviour, health related quality of life and service utilisation 2. Direct assessment of child's word recognition, sentence comprehension and a proxy for non-verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) 3. Teacher reported language, social, emotional, cognitive and physical wellbeing | — |
Countries
Australia
Outcome results
None listed