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At risk for language disorders? Correlates and course of language disorders in preschool children born at risk
Author(s) -
Weindrich D,
JennenSteinmetz Ch,
Laucht M,
Esser G,
Schmidt M‘H
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1998.tb00953.x
Subject(s) - medicine , psychosocial , language delay , language development , population , pediatrics , language disorder , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , psychology , cognition , environmental health
The language abilities of 324 children of an at‐risk population were investigated at age 2 and 4.5 y. Modified research criteria of the ICD‐10 for specific developmental disorders of speech and language were applied. Frequencies between 4% and 7%, depending on age and type of disorder, were diagnosed among children whose performance on the language measure was only 1 instead of ICD‐10′s 2 SD below group mean, but the discrepancy measure of 1 SD between non‐verbal language score and language measure was retained. Psychosocial aspects of a child's environment proved to be better predictors of later language disorders than obstetric complications. Stability of specific language disorders was on the whole fairly low, but children who perform below age level on language measures remained at risk. Gender differences are almost compensated by the age 4.5 y.