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May 29, 2015

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Home » Metro » Education

New program to study kids’ language skills

OFFICIALS from Jiao Tong University’s School of Foreign Languages and Shanghai Children’s Medical Center have agreed to cooperate to develop the nation’s first language ability standard for children.

Experts from the two organizations will engage in research, clinical diagnosis and treatment for youngsters with language and communication problems, the university said yesterday.

Between 10 and 15 percent of preschoolers and 6 percent of school-age children in China have a “speech-language disorder,” said Hu Kaibao, dean of the foreign language school.

“Currently, treatment is conducted only by doctors, who don’t have enough knowledge or understanding of language and language use,” he said.

“China has just started speech-language pathology research, which is extremely helpful for children with such disorders,” he said.

“Many parents have low awareness (of the subject) and clinical intervention is not effective,” Hu said.

“There is no standard to scientifically evaluate and diagnose children with language disorders. Many doctors just make diagnoses based on their experience,” he said.

Chang Hui, one of the people involved in the program, said that one of the aims is to develop a children’s language growth scale, which can be used as a clinical tool.




 

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