A new research project involving the Lincoln School of Psychology has featured on BBC Look North. Dr Kerstin Meints is working with fellow child language development specialists from the universities of Lancaster and Liverpool on a £358,000 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project which could improve the way language development is measured and language delay is detected in very young children. They will create a tool known as a Communicative Development Inventory specifically for UK English.
The grant means that for the first time, researchers will be able to establish language development norms for UK children aged 8 to 18 months.
The tool will plug an important gap which has left UK researchers, education and health professionals at a disadvantage.
Until now, UK language experts have been forced to rely upon more complicated methods of testing child language development, or on methods designed for American English speakers which can lead to UK babies being misdiagnosed as being delayed in language development.
The two-and-a-half year project will also look into the impact of family income and education on UK children’s language development, as well as examining differences between children learning UK English, and other languages and English dialects.
The project is expected to make a major contribution to language development research as well as to the effectiveness of speech and language therapy and improved policy making.
Researchers are keen to hear from parents with children under 18 months to take part in the study. They are also particularly interested in hearing from English dialect speakers such as families from Scotland and Northern Ireland, and from parents who left school early.
The research team is led by Dr Katie Alcock of Lancaster University’s Centre for Research in Human Development and Learning, who will be working alongside fellow language development specialists Dr Caroline Rowland of the University of Liverpool and Dr Kerstin Meints of the University of Lincoln.
WATCH on the BBC site.