Modelling the impact of speech and language impairment on educational performance and emotional wellbeing: A study of The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
Key objective
To model the impact of speech and language impairment on educational performance and emotional wellbeing of Australian children aged 4-5 years using the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)
The prevalence of speech and language impairment in 4-5 yr olds could be as high 20%. Primary speech and language impairment is more prevalent than autism (about 0.7%) and about the same as asthma (14-16%) and childhood obesity (about 20%).
Increasing evidence suggests that there are both short and long term effects of childhood speech impairment. The impact of speech impairment may include loss of potential in occupational and educational domains and reduced quality of life.
To date there are few if any studies that have addressed the economic impact of speech impairment in Australian Children. The purpose of this work is to build economic models that are capable of estimating impacts of early intervention of speech impairment in children in Australia.
The econometric modelling will be conducted in two stages. First, we will build a model of speech impairment based on fixed and random effects analyses of individual level data. The model will produce estimates of the impact of early intervention. We will examine the relationship between the age of the child at diagnosis and with measures of literacy, numeracy and approach to learning as well as the effect of school and parent variables. We will explore key components of the model to estimate more detailed impacts allowing for variation, for example, by income, region, family structure and access to support services. Results from the model will inform the decision analytic model as well as inform policymakers about trends in the data, and how they are likely to change in response to early intervention.
In the second stage of the modelling, we will generate a decision analytical model that looks at the costs and benefits associated with early intervention. The findings of this study will serve to be an important contribution in influencing health policy and decision making in this area.
Funding Source
University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Business Grant
CHERE staff
Paula Cronin, Rebecca, Reeve, Stephen Goodall
