Language skills at age 6 years in Swedish children screened for language delay at 2(1/2) years of age

This study concerns language outcome in 6-y-old children who participated in a longitudinal community-based study of 105 children screened for language delay (LD) at 2(1/2) y of age. The purpose was to investigate (1) whether results from the 2(1/2)-y screening were persistent at 6 y of age, and (2) what language domains at age 6 were difficult for (a) children with LD at age 2(1/2) y and (b) children with normal language (LN) at the same age. Significant differences between LD and LN at age 2(1/2) y were persistent at age 6. The vulnerability that was identified at 2(1/2) y of age, such as problems with going from single-word utterances to multi-word utterances, seems to persist as delayed development at different language levels and across language domains.

This study has shown that children who failed the 2(1/2)-y screening are at high risk of having persistent language problems at age 6 y.