Research and policy
Research: Language and Social Disadvantage: Theory into Practice
1 Jun 2009
The book, Language and Social Disadvantage: Theory Into Practice, is a collection of pieces written by speech and language professionals.
In chapter one, Ginsborg defines social disadvantage as low socio-economic status and argues differences in language competence are affected by environmental factors such as “poverty, maternal education, home environment and carer-child interaction”. Other chapters explore the relationship between spoken and written language and numeracy ability.
Chapters 4 to 6 discuss the long-term consequences of communication problems. Farmer (chapter 5) examines how language disorder eventually affects self-esteem and peer relationships.
The second half of the book discusses research into intervention programmes, “designed to enhance the communication skills of children who are socially disadvantaged”. This includes intervention by agents such as nursery nurses, teaching assistants and teachers.
This summary is taken from the review written by Barbara Dodd, ARC Research Officer, Perinatal Research Centre, University of Queensland Australia, in the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (May-June 2009).
(International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, May-June 2009).
