The predictive validity and accuracy of a screening test for language delay and auditory perceptual disorder

Infants (321) who had been screened for language delay and auditory perceptual problems at 9 months of age were evaluated 1 year later. Of these infants 88.6% were correctly classified as at-risk or not-at-risk of delayed linguistic development. The correlation between performance on the screen and on a language scale was 0.49. The great majority of those with receptive and expressive delay continued to show problems at 2 years of age, whereas half of those with expressive delay alone were within normal limits. No evidence was found that a history of fluctuating hearing loss contributed to the development of either language delay or auditory perceptual problems.