Language development in the early years sets the stage for education, health, and wellbeing into adulthood. There are substantial individual differences in children’s language progress over childhood with around 8% having persisting difficulties which affect the quality of their social relationships, and learning. There is also a clear social gradient in language abilities. Of all the socio-economic inequalities in child health and development, none is larger than those related to language. Any approaches to the promotion of robust early language development must therefore consider the social determinants of these inequalities.

Language learning takes place in all aspects of a child’s daily life and from infancy to adulthood. To support language development for all children and ameliorate the problems of those with language difficulties, support and interventions must be able cut-across contextual and age-related boundaries. The services which support children and families in the early years, are often complex ecologies, of voluntary, statutory, and private bodies, with variable and distributed funding structures and delivered by a mix of health, education, and social care professionals.

This lecture will outline a body of work which aims to define optimal methods to support children’s language development within these complex ecologies and contexts of inequalities. This includes studies conducted in the UK and internationally, which examine longitudinal cohort data, develop and evaluate early interventions, explore optimal relational practices for professional collaboration and develop frameworks for local implementation of current best evidence. Drawing on these, the characteristics of a public health framework for early language will be proposed and future priorities for research identified.

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