Data resource profile: The Child LAnguage REpository (CLARE)

Abstract

Oral language is a characteristic that defines the human species. How this ability develops underpins the health, productivity, and social well-being of individuals.1 Whereas most children acquire speech and language skills with relative ease, many do not, placing a sizeable burden on our health, education, social and economic systems.2,3 Considering this, research in the field has been chronically underfunded and fragmented, resulting in evidence gaps, limited research capacity and uncoordinated, poorly informed and often contradictory advice for policy makers and practitioners.4,5 Although language promotion and early intervention are clearly warranted, efforts to understand how and when best to target interventions have been hampered by a lack of appropriate longitudinal data. Only a few international population cohort studies have collected the detailed language measures required for accurate descriptions of the trajectories and outcomes of children’s language phenotyping.5,6 Studies measuring language in depth have been limited by small, non-representative samples, often drawn from clinical populations and/or commencing at preschool or school age,5 and thus missing the critical early years when the foundations for language are established. In addition, little is known about genetic and/or neural underpinnings, that is, the neurobiology of developmental language disorders (DLD).7