On Friday I attended a seminar held at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne titled: "What’s new in child language research: Implications for policy and practice". The very eminent speakers were:
- Professor Bruce Tomblin, University of Iowa, USA
- Professor James Law, University of Newcastle, UK
- Professor Sheena Reilly, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne
- Professor Cate Taylor, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth
- Associate Professor Andrew Whitehouse, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth.
- Professor Melissa Wake, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne
- Dr Sharon Goldfeld from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne
The day began with an inspiring lecture by Prof Tomblin reflecting on his last 40 years of research into children's language. Prof Law outlined his latest Cochrane Collaboration meta-analysis of interventions for children with speech and language impairment. Profs Reilly and Taylor described evidence of growth trajectories from longitudinal studies of children. A/Prof Whitehouse described some biological bases for language impairment. Prof Wake and Dr Goldfield outlined the results of population level intervention studies to support book reading and language stimulation in children from disadvantaged suburbs of Melbourne. Over 200 people attended this inspiring day.
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| Prof Bruce Tomblin |
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| The new Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne - a space for children |
