Language problems

This research was completed on 28 February 2004

Project Leader	Dr Anne O'Hare, MD, FRCP, Mr James Boyle, AFBPsS, Professor Tariq Durrani, PhD, FRSE, Professor Mike Mattey, PhD, Ms Elspeth McCartney, FRCSLT and Dr Jocelynne Watson, PhD
Location	Department of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, University of Edinburgh in conjunction with Departments of Psychology, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Bioscience and Biotechnology and the Department of Speech and Language Therapy all at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and the Departments of Community Child Health and Speech and Language Therapy, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.
Grant awarded	13 March 2000
Start date	1 August 2000
End date	28 February 2004
Grant amount	£135,972.00
Grant code	SP3536

Some children never completely recover from the most common problem of development, that of delay in understanding or using speech. Recent scientific evidence suggests that although such children have normal hearing, they cannot detect some of the very rapid changes in the sound frequencies of speech. Technology which can modify speech so that children can overcome their difficulty has been incorporated into the American computer based program FastForWord and a dramatic improvement in the language development of such children has been reported. This study will investigate whether this programme can help children with these disabilities in the UK.