Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction
1. Language development: Individual differences in a social context / James Law, Sheena Reilly and Cristina McKean
2. Social contexts and language development: Past, present, and future / Erika Hoff, Anders Hojen and Dorthe Bleses
Part 1: Factor influencing language development
3. Genetic studies of language disorders / Hayley Mountford, Ruth Braden, Angela Morgan and Dianne Newbury
4. Hearing and language / Peter Carew and Traci Flynn
5. Co-occurrence between language disorders and common conditions in childhood / Emma Sciberras, Amanda Brignell and Katy Mueller / 6. Language and cognition / Sabine Weinert
7. Growing up in multilingual communities / Elizabeth D. Peña,Lisa M. Bedore, Julio Torres and Yenda Prado
8. Parent–child interaction and its impact on language development / Penny Levickis, Laura Conway, Jodie Smith and Shannon Bennetts
9. Cognitive competencies and signals of risk / Kirsten Asmussen, Jenna Charlton and James Law
10. Creating equitable opportunities for language and literacy development in childhood and adolescence / Catherine L. Taylor, Daniel Christensen and Stephen R. Zubrick
Part 2: Continuity and change
11. Language trajectories in childhood: The nature and drivers of individual differences and their implications for intervention / Cristina McKean, Fiona Mensah and Sheena Reilly
12. Patterns of language development from childhood to adulthood and the associated long-term psychosocial outcomes / Rebecca M. Armstrong and James G. Scott
13. Social inequalities in vocabulary and the role of reading / Alice Sullivan, Vanessa Moulton, Matthew Brown and Emla Fitzsimons
14. The dynamic nature of predictors and outcomes in children’s language development over childhood / Elizabeth Westrupp, Maggie Yu, Jan Nicholson and Donna Berthelsen
Part 3: Impact, intervention and equity
15. Communication, participation and cohort studies / Sharynne McLeod, Jane McCormack and Helen L. Blake
16. Capturing the voice of parents and children: The potential impact for the design and implementation of research and services / Sue Roulstone and Rena Lyons
17. Oral language skills as a foundation for learning to learn / Patricia Eadie
18. The economic impact of low language ability in childhood / Ha N.D. Le, Fiona Mensah, Patricia Eadie, Sheena Reilly and Lisa Gold
19. A review of interventions to promote language development in early childhood / Penny Levickis, Pooja Patel, Cristina McKean, Jodie Smith, Naomi Hackworth, James Law, Elizabeth Westrupp and Sheena Reilly
20. Interventions to promote language development in typical and atypical populations / James Law and Jenna Charlton
21. The effect of kindergarten instructional policies on reading and math achievement gaps / Jane Waldfogel and Yi Wang
22. Educational interventions targeting language development / Laura M. Justice and Sonia Q. Cabell
23. Equity and access to services for children with language difficulties / Sheena Reilly, James Law, Maya Conway and Michelle Krahe

"The majority of children acquire language effortlessly but approximately 10% of all children find it difficult especially in the early or preschool years with consequences for many aspects of their subsequent development and experience: literacy, social skills, educational qualifications, mental health and employment. With contributions from an international team of researchers, this book is the first to draw together a series of new analyses of data related to children's language development, primarily from large-scale nationally representative population studies, and to bring a public health perspective to the field. The book begins with a section on factors influencing the patterns of language development. A second section explores continuity and change in language development over time. The third explores the impact on individuals with developmental language disorders (DLD), the effectiveness of available interventions, and broader issues about the need for equity in the delivery of services to those with DLD"-- Provided by publisher.