[Possibilities and limitations of the early identification of developmental language disorders]

It is not been proven to date that children with developmental language disorders can be identified by general language screening in 2-year-old children. The goal of the present study was to determine the predictive diagnostic power of the parent questionnaire SBE-2-KT.

The language abilities of 562 children were assessed using the SBE-2-KT at the age of 2 and reassessed 1 year later using the parent questionnaire SBE-3-KT.

The correlation between language scores at age 2 and 3 were moderate and highly significant (rSp=0.59-0.68, p<0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values against language impairment at age 3 as a reference were 43%, 93%, 57% and 88%, respectively.

The possibility to identify children with language disorders at the age of 2 is limited. Almost half of the children with delayed language development at age 2 had results on language screening within the normal range at 3 years. Furthermore, nearly every second child with subnormal language scores at age 3 is not classified as a late talker at age 2. Therefore, for early identification of language disorders a general reassessment of language skills is necessary at the age of 3.