Journal article

Service utilisation and costs of language impairment in children: The early language in Victoria Australian population-based study

HAND Le, L Gold, F Mensah, P Eadie, EL Bavin, L Bretherton, S Reilly

International Journal of Speech Language Pathology | TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD | Published : 2017

Abstract

Purpose: To examine (1) the patterns of service use and costs associated with language impairment in a community cohort of children from ages 4–9 years and (2) the relationship between language impairment and health service utilisation. Method: Participants were children and caregivers of six local government areas in Melbourne participating in the community-based Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS). Health service use was reported by parents. Costs were valued in Australian dollars in 2014, from the government and family perspectives. Depending on age, the Australian adapted Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Pre-school, 2nd Edition (CELF-P2) or the CELF, 4th Edition (CELF4) w..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)


Awarded by NHMRC



Funding Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Child Language Symposium in July 2015, Coventry, UK. The Early Language Victoria Study was funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC #237106, #9436958 and #1041947). The authors thank the Early Language Victoria Study team and all participating families, and acknowledge the support of the NHMRC-funded Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language (#1023493). F.Mensah and L.Gold were supported by NHMRC Early Career Fellowships (#1037449 and #1035100), and S. Reilly by Practitioner Fellowship (#1041892). The contents of the published material herein are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the views of the NHMRC. Research at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.