LifeCourse A Melbourne Children's Research Initiative

Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS)

The Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS) has been following the speech and language development of a large group of children (>1900) born in the surrounds of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) since they were 8 months of age. ELVS has followed up this same group of children as they transitioned from middle childhood to adulthood. There are a number of ELVS sub-studies investigating different areas of communication development including: stuttering, autism and bilingual language development.

Year	2003-2004	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006	2006-2007	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010	2011-2012	2013-2014	2015-2017	2020-2024	2020-2022	2021-2023	2023-2024
Wave	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Age	8 months	12 months	24 months	3 years	4 years	5 years	6 years	7 years	9 years	11 years	13 years	17 - 18 years	17 - 19 years	18 - 20 years	20-21 years
N	1910	1759	1741	1647	1623	1002	1047	1189	1166	871	858	577	575	570	569
RELEVANT LIFECOURSE DOMAINS	Anthropometrics
								Biosamples
												Community environment			Community environment
	Demographics
	Education and childcare
	Family environment									Family environment					Family environment
		Health services												Health services
	Hearing
	Medications and supplements									Medications and supplements
	Mental health and behaviour problems
				Methodology							Methodology
	Miscellaneous
	Neurocognitive development
	Nutrition													Nutrition
				Other health information									Other health information
					Peer relationships								Peer relationships		Peer relationships
									Physical activity				Physical activity
	Pregnancy and birth
	Psychosocial wellbeing
										Puberty
		Romantic relationships								Romantic relationships					Romantic relationships
					Screen and technology use				Screen and technology use					Screen and technology use
														Sleep
	Speech and language														Speech and language
														Substance use
	Temperament and personality													Temperament and personality

Study Summary
Study name	Early Language in Victoria Study
Study abbreviation	ELVS
Current principal investigator/s	Tricia Eadie
Current project manager	Penny Levickis Bibi Gerner
Primary Institution/s	The University of Melbourne - UoM
Collaborating Institution/s	Griffith University Murdoch Children’s Research Institute - MCRI La Trobe University Deakin University
Major funding source/s	National Health and Medical Research Council - NHMRC
Study website	https://education.unimelb.edu.au/REEaCh/projects/elvs
Key reference for study	Reilly, S., Cook, F., Bavin, E.L., Bretherton, L., Cahir, P., Eadie, P., Gold, L., Mensah, F., Papadopoullos, S. and Wake, M. (2017). Cohort Profile: The Early Language in Victoria Study (ELVS). International Journal of Epidemiology. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyx079dyx079-dyx079.
Study focus	How language develops from infancy (8 months) to adulthood. Sub-studies include investigations in to stuttering, autism, and bilingual language development.
Sampling frame	Maternal and Child Health Nurses approached all parents of babies aged 8-10 months of age, within six Local Government Areas of Melbourne, Australia.
Primary study type	Longitudinal cohort
Year commenced	2003
Is this study ongoing?	Yes - we plan to continue the study (subject to future funding)
Ongoing recruitment?	No
Sample size (N)	1910
Survey data available?	Yes
Imaging data available?	No
Linkage to administrative dataset/s?	No, no consent to link to administrative dataset(s) obtained
Biosamples available?	Yes
Are data available to others outside study team, with appropriate safeguards and structures in line with the cohort’s ethics and governance processes?	Yes
Are there any costs associated with data/sample access for approved requests?	There may be costs associated with access, evaluated on a case by case basis
Broadest type of participant consent available	Extended consent (can be used for future ethically approved research related to this project)

2023

Gasparini L, Shepherd DA, Bavin EL, Eadie P, Reilly S, Morgan AT, Wake M. (2023). Using machine-learning methods to identify early-life predictors of 11-year language outcome. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 64(8), 1242 - 1252. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13733

Study Contacts
Principal investigator/s	Tricia Eadie
Project manager	Penny Levickis Bibi Gerner
Study Contact	Email: elvs-team@unimelb.edu.au ELVS phone number: 0480 263 911 Address: The University of Melbourne Level 3, 100 Leicester Street, Parkville, Victoria 3052 Australia