One in five Australian children start school with a speech or language disorder.

Some children will grow out of it, but others will go on to have persistent communication difficulties.

We know that speech and language disorders arise from genetic, neurological and environmental factors. Genetic factors are thought to play a significant role to speech and language.

We have identified that as many as 1 in 3 children with speech apraxia may receive a genetic diagnosis for their condition.

The team have also identified over 30 single genes causative for a rare but persistent speech disorder, known as childhood apraxia of speech.