In the coming days, a new sub-study within NorthPop on language development is starting up. The aim of the study is to increase knowledge about variations in children’s language development and how this connects to children’s health. The study also wants to lay a foundation for developing tools to support children’s language.
”The background to the study is that language development is a very central part of children’s development. And even if it is something that has been researched for a long time, there is still much to investigate, for example about variations between children and how to learn to use language in interaction with others. Through the NorthPop study, there is an opportunity to reach many parents and children. In this way, we hope to get new and important information about children’s language development and also how it is connected to other health factors.” says Karin Brunnegård, licensed speech and language therapist and senior lecturer.
Associate professor Maria Rosenberg explains more about how the study will be carried out in practice within NorthPop; ”Families who choose to participate will complete a questionnaire on their child’s language. In addition, they gain knowledge about how linguistically competent young children are and how important language is for interacting with each other. We also hope that many parents record their children’s language (audio recording only), so that we can investigate more closely how children’s language develops over time and at different rates.”
Photo: Maria Rosenberg (l), Karin Brunnegård (r)
Photographer: Umeå University