FRIMED2-FRIPRO forskerprosjekt, medisin og helse

Specific language disorders are frequently occurring developmental disorders among children affecting 7-10% in preschool age. We still have limited understating of the etiological factors involved. The aim of this study is to describe developmental trajectories for different language-related problems, from early pre-school to school age (8 ½ - 9 years), and to find markers for early identification of the different developmental trajectories. An additional aim is to identify factors in pregnancy and early development that predicts children's language development more generally and language disorders more specifically. With increasing child age, we will also investigate how language skills and cognitive factors are related to school learning, social competence and positive mental health. The data consist of questionnaire information on milestones and skill development from 6 months to 8 years and clinical tests of linguistic and cognitive development at 8½ years. The study is based on the large, population-based Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Study (MoBa) run by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. More than 100,000 mothers and children, most also with fathers participating, were recruited in 1999-2008. A total of 1,600 MoBa families were invited to a telephone interview when the children were between 8 ½ -9 years to recruit 600 children for a clinical test examination including a variety of neuropsychological tests of different language functions. Two groups were invited: i) children who were expected to have delayed language development/language disorder based on questionnaire information at 5 and/or 8 years, and ii) children who were not expected to have such delay/disorder. Since the study investigates children with specific language difficulties, children with a known status or condition that commonly affects language development (e.g., cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, extreme low birth weight, low gestational age, twin/triplet births, non-Norwegian-speaking family), were excluded. The main purpose of the study is to increase our knowledge of children with specific language disorders. More specifically, the study seeks to: i) identify linguistic and cognitive characteristics of specific language disorders at the age of 8 ii) identify genes and early environmental factors that increase the risk of language disorders iii) examine how different language skills and language delays co-vary. d iv) study relationships between language development and academic success by linking clinical tests results and results from national tests at school The clinical data collection started in December 2013 and ended in June 2015. By the end of the data collection, 509 children were tested and evaluated, and a total of 803 mothers were interviewed about their child's language development, skills and possible developmental problems. In autumn 2015, the collected data was quality controlled (reliability testing and post-check of all test data). Clinical data were linked to version 10 of MoBa data along with information from the Medical Birth Register, and handed out to the researchers between 2016-2017. Currently, a number of scientific papers are prepared based on both the MoBa questionnaires and the clinical data. Topics include the relationship between early language competence and later reading competence (at 8 years), the mediating and moderating impact of cognitive functions and cognitive profiles , the relationship between language skills, social competence and development of good mental health as well as quality of life among parents and children with language-related problems. Further data linkages are prepared. We are planning to link the clinical data set to the national registries of school grades from when the children reached 11 and 15 years. Data will also be linked to information from the Norwegian Patient Register.

Språk 8 studien er unik i verdenssammenheng. Dette har ledet til invitasjon om samarbeid med GenLang (Genetics of Language) Consortium. Prosjektet er fremdeles i drift og oppnådde effekter og potensielle virkninger ligger litt frem i tid.

The overall aim is to expand our knowledge about groups of children with SLI. We will first characterise cognitive-linguistic skills of Norwegian speaking children at 8 years. The second aim is to extend our knowledge about early risk and protective facto rs, developmental trajectories, co-occurring problems and mechanisms underlying SLI. Such knowledge is critical to inform early intervention and preventive efforts. SLI is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 7-10 % of 5-8-year-old children. SLI is however among the least understood. Causes, mechanisms and developmental trajectories are largely unknown despite significant research efforts. The complexity of the disorder underpins the necessity to study children with SLI classified into group s with different linguistic and cognitive profiles. Few studies are suited to form well described groups of desirable sample sizes. The current project will use data from The Norwegian Mother and Child Study (MoBa). MoBa has a large population based cohor t of mothers and children (n=107,000) with data about health, risk factors and child functioning from pregnancy onwards. The MoBa cohort is uniquely formed to detect adequate numbers of children with developmental disorders. We will first use questionnair e data from MoBa to establish a group of 400 8 year olds with SLI and a comparison group of 200 typically developing peers. In study 1 of the project, the children will undergo clinical assessments to identify linguistic and cognitive markers of SLI. In s tudy 2, data from MoBa and the clinical assessment will be integrated in order to identify biological, genetic and behavioural predictors of SLI, and to explore developmental trajectories of SLI from 18 months to 8 years. The project is in a unique posit ion to extend our knowledge of SLI profiles and add new evidence to the existing understanding of core aspects of SLI because of sample size and comprehensiv