Dr Shaun Goh from the Centre of Research in Child Development hosts Visiting Consultant Professor Courtenay Norbury from University College London

Over the course of five days from 10 to 14 October 2022, Dr Shaun Goh from the Centre of Research in Child Development (CRCD) hosted Visiting Consultant Professor Courtenay Norbury from University College London (UCL), United Kingdom (UK), where she shared widely on her expertise to educators and healthcare practitioners such as consulting on NIE-led research projects, and holding seminars at the Ministry of Education (MOE, Grange Road) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

Professor Courtenay Norbury is Professor of Developmental Language & Communication Disorders at UCL, UK, and an internationally renowned leader in child language disorder, with expertise in identification (assessment and diagnosis) and longitudinal investigations of language development and disorder, linking language to educational and social outcomes. She is also an experienced leader in bridging research, practice, and policy.

On 11 October 2022 at MOE (Grange Road), Professor Norbury shared lessons from her UK study titled “Surrey Communication and Language in Education Study” (SCALES). The study involves children who had persistent language needs in more than 180 schools. In brief, this representative study found 9.92% of UK preschoolers at age 4-5 met criteria for a disorder of language. Surprisingly, the majority of these children, 7.58%, were not associated with hearing impairment, autism, and other biomedical conditions. On average, these children with a disorder of language continued to show a 2-3 year ‘language gap’.

Dr Shaun Goh shared about his ongoing intervention study, which tests new ways to support children with language disorder in Singapore. He shared international findings that show 46.5% of children who access socio-emotional support also have language disorder. However, mental health support is delivered through talking and speaking, which can be difficult to access for children with language disorder. He provided a demonstration of a new 8-session program, tailored for these children by including more visual pictures and activities.

On 14 October 2022 at KKH, Professor Norbury shared research to answer the question “Does Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) matter?” In addition to sharing aforementioned SCALES findings of how common and persistent it is, she also shared about how language disorder can be supported. She pointed to international findings on high quality implementation, explicit instruction, and practicing target words repeatedly in functional contexts. She spoke about the influence of language on socio-emotional mental health, and how identifying emotions or use of thinking strategies seem difficult for these children. It remains challenging to shift a child’s language trajectory, with further work needed.

Dr Goh shared about two of his ongoing studies in Singapore that examine new supports for DLD in Singapore. In pre-school, a funded study to design and test a web app to screen for language weakness in English and Mandarin. This study is in its development phase, and is piloting a list of words and materials to be included in this screen. In primary school, a funded study to pilot and test a mental health intervention, tailored for primary 1 to 6 children. This is envisioned to be carried out in the school or therapy centre, to alleviate the concerns of primary school students with language disorder. 

In sum, Professor Norbury’s visit sets the stage for further collaboration between UK and Singapore to identify and support children with persistent language needs (DLD).