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Language developmentIn all three waves, primary carers were asked if theyhad any concerns about their children’s languagedevelopment. The questions were adapted from ‘ParentEvaluation of Developmental Status’ (PEDS), the Australianversion, with the assistance of the Centre for CommunityChild Health (2005).Table 3 shows the proportions of children whose primarycarers indicated concerns about their receptive(understanding) and expressive (speaking) language skillsin waves 1 and 3. Most primary carers did not express anyconcerns about their children’s language development.However more primary carers expressed concerns abouttheir child’s speech than about their understanding.How persistent are concerns about languagedevelopment? That is, do the primary carers of the samechildren express concern in each wave, or are mostconcerns resolved by the time of subsequent interview?Table 4 and Table 5 shed some light on this by showingproportions of primary carers who expressed concernsabout their children’s language development in wave 3,depending on their responses in wave 1. Of the primarycarers who expressed concern in wave 1, the majoritywere no longer concerned by the time they were askedin wave 3, and primary carers who did not have concernsat wave 1 were less likely to express concern at wave 3.Concerns about expressive language were more likelyto persist than those about receptive language. Speechconcerns were also more likely to emerge in wave 3than concerns about understanding; 13.2 per cent ofthe primary carers who had no concerns about theirchildren’s expressive language at the time of the wave 1interview expressed some concern at wave 3, comparedwith only 4.1 per cent for receptive language.The main area of concern about receptive languagewas that the child had difficulty in understanding whatthe primary carer said. For those who had concernsabout expressive language, the main area of concernwas the clarity of speech. Difficulty putting wordstogether and stuttering, stammering or lisping were alsoof concern to 4.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent of primarycarers respectively.Table 3: Primary carers’ concerns about children’s language development, waves 1 and 3, per centWave 1 Wave 3Concern about children’slanguage developmentReceptivelanguageExpressivelanguageReceptivelanguageExpressivelanguageNo concerns 94.3 84.5 94.4 82.8Some concern 5.7 12.9 5.6 17.2Child not speaking yet – 2.6 – –Number of respondents 1,661 1,642 1,404 1,402Note:Data are for children whose primary carers responded ’yes’, ’a little’ or ’no’ to the questions on concerns about speech andunderstanding. The responses ’a little’ and ’yes’ were grouped into the ’some concern’ category. The small number of caseswhere the primary carer was unsure or refused to answer were excluded from the analysis, hence the varying number ofrespondents. The total number of respondents was 1670 in wave 1 and 1404 in wave 3.Table 4: Persistence of concerns about the child’s expressive language, waves 1 and 3Child’s speech in wave 1Primary carer’s concerns about child’sspeech in wave 3, per centNo concernsSome concernsNumber ofrespondentsNot speaking yet 67.6 32.4 37Primary carer had no concerns 86.8 13.2 1,102Primary carer had some concerns 58.0 42.0 169Note:Data are for 1,308 children whose primary carers responded ’yes’, ’a little’ or ’no’ to the question ’Do you have any concernsabout how the child talks and makes speech sounds?’ at waves 1 and 3, and those who indicated that the child could not yetpronounce any words they could recognise at wave 1. Responses ’a little’ and ‘yes’ were grouped together.14 Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children | Key Summary Report from Wave 3
Table 5: Persistence of concerns about the child’s receptive language, waves 1 and 3Primary carer’s concerns about child’sunderstanding in wave 3, per centChild’s understanding in wave 1No concernsSome concernsNumber of respondentsPrimary carer had no concerns 95.9 4.1 1,258Primary carer had some concerns 72.5 27.5 69Note:Data are for 1,327 children whose primary carers responded ’yes’, ’a little’ or ’no’ to the question ’Do you have anyconcerns about how the child understands what you say to him/her?’ at waves 1 and 3. Responses ’a little’ and ’yes’ weregrouped together.Figure 6: Concerns about speech and understanding by children’s age, per centNote:As the question about speech concerns was asked in wave 2 of only new entrants and those who had expressed concerns inwave 1 interview, the data on speech concerns come from waves 1 and 3 only. The data on concerns about understandingcome from all three waves.There was a marked difference between the two cohorts.For the B cohort concerns about receptive and expressivelanguage increased over time, while concerns aboutchildren in the K cohort decreased. This was most likelydue to the age of the children and the developmentalstage they had reached at the time of each interview.At the wave 1 interview, children in the B cohort were notold enough for primary carers to be concerned aboutlanguage development but by the wave 3 interviewthese children had reached an age where problemswould have become apparent. Conversely, for theolder cohort, any problems would most likely have beenexposed in earlier waves and rectified or resolved as thechild got older.Figure 6 provides an illustration of this. Across all threewaves, it shows proportions of primary carers whoexpressed concerns about their children’s expressive orreceptive language development by the child’s age.The figure shows that speech concerns peaked forchildren aged around 4 years, while concerns aboutunderstanding peaked around 4 to 5 years of age andthen began to decline.In conclusion, while concerns about children’s expressivelanguage development were in general more prevalentand more persistent in the Footprints in Time study thanconcerns about their receptive language, this was stronglyrelated to the age of the child. Most causes for concernbecame apparent and were resolved by the time thechild started school.Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children | Key Summary Report from Wave 315
Page 2 and 3: The Footprints in Time team acknowl
Page 5 and 6: ContentsForeword 6Introduction 7Imp
Page 7 and 8: Culture and community 53Neighbourho
Page 9 and 10: IntroductionFootprints in Time is t
Page 11 and 12: AANNUAL UPDATEIt’s a child’s li
Page 13 and 14: Table 2: Type of school attended by
Page 15: Figure 4: Average “Who Am I?” s
Page 22: Dental healthAs they are growing up
Page 26 and 27: Table10: Percentage of children doi
Page 28 and 29: Table 12: Percentage of children do
Page 30 and 31: Table 14: Changes in family type of
Page 32 and 33: Parents living elsewhereGeneral que
Page 34 and 35: Primary carers of children who did
Page 36 and 37: Figure 14: Most common reasons for
Page 38 and 39: HomelessnessOn any given day, nearl
Page 40 and 41: For 77.0 per cent of respondents th
Page 42 and 43: Jobless and two-earner familiesIf w
Page 44 and 45: Income and financeThe Footprints in
Page 46 and 47: Income managementIn all three waves
Page 48 and 49: Table 33: Family money situation in
Page 50 and 51: Primary carer health and wellbeingE
Page 52 and 53: Parental warmth and disciplineIn wa
Page 54 and 55: Questions about a list of major lif
Page 56 and 57: Table 40 shows the relative distrib
Page 58 and 59: in areas of low or moderate isolati
Page 60 and 61: It is also important to consider th
Page 62 and 63: The degree of trust respondents had
Page 64 and 65: Parent and child directed activitie
Page 66 and 67:
Table 52: Level of television viewi
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With the exception of storytelling,
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Children in areas of high or extrem
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Nevertheless, cards was the form of
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Social and emotional development:In
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The prosocial scores were significa
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In wave 3, teacher-based SDQ scores
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English language acquisition: relat
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Using the MacArthur Bates vocabular
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Mothers’ educational aspirations
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curriculum, stable schooling (only
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Appendix ABackground to the studyCo
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Other participant interviewsIn addi
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Table 71: Percentage of wave 1 resp
Page 95 and 96:
Access to the dataThe dataset used
Page 97 and 98:
ReferencesAustralian Bureau of Stat
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FAHCSIA11828
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