The Kids Investigators:
Mary Brushe
External Investigators:
Sally Brinkman, Sheena Reilly, John Lynch, Edward Melhuish
Project team members:
Abbey Belton, Jamelle Walton
Project description:
The Language in Little Ones (LiLO) study is a longitudinal study, funded through a National Health and Medical Research Council Project Grant (2017 – 2022). The study investigates the quantity and quality of language exposure in the home environment during the first five years of a child’s life.
To do this, we are utilising advanced speech recognition technology called Language Environment Analysis (LENA) that can count the number of words a child hears and speaks throughout a 16-hour period. This research will allow us to understand the optimal amount of parent talk needed to support all domains of development during the first five years of life.
Importantly, we are aiming to determine whether a language rich home environment could be a modifiable mechanism for mediating the large social inequalities in children’s health and development at school entry.
The study follows approximately 450 families from 6 months of age until their first year of school, with all families participating in a LENA recording day once every six months. The study includes families located across Adelaide and Port Pirie in South Australia, Bunbury, Western Australia and Gold Coast, Queensland.
More details of the project, relevant publications, resources and media releases can be found at telethonkids.org.au/lilo
Project Output:
Brushe, M. E., Lynch, J. W., Reilly, S., Melhuish, E., & Brinkman, S. A. (2021) The education word gap emerges by 18 months: findings from an Australian prospective study. BMC Pediatrics, 21, 247. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02712-1
Brushe, M. E., Lynch, J. W., Reilly, S., Melhuish, E., & Brinkman, S. A. (2020) How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life? BMC Pediatrics 20, 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-1946-0
Funders of the project:
National Health and Medical Research Council Project Grant: APP1121830