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Late talkers: do good predictors of outcome exist?
1Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Philadelphia, PA 19010, USA. lrescorl@brynmawr.edu
Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews
|January 31, 2013
Summary
Most children with early language delay catch up by age 7, but often show lower language skills later. This suggests a spectrum of language ability influenced by underlying skills and socioeconomic factors.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Public Health
Background:
- Early language delay affects many children, with most eventually reaching average language scores.
- However, persistent differences in language abilities are observed between late talkers and typically developing peers into adolescence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the long-term language outcomes for children experiencing early language delay.
- To explore the dimensional nature of language ability and underlying contributing factors.
- To highlight the public health implications of early expressive language screening.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal studies, including small-scale and epidemiological research, were reviewed.
- Analysis focused on language scores from early childhood through adolescence.
- Factors contributing to language variation and risks associated with socioeconomic status were considered.
Main Results:
- Most children identified with early language delay achieve average language scores by ages 5-7.
- Despite catch-up, late talkers consistently score lower on language measures than peers into adolescence.
- Underlying skills like auditory processing, word retrieval, and grammatical learning vary across the language ability spectrum.
Conclusions:
- Language delay may represent a quantitative difference on a spectrum rather than a distinct category.
- Early expressive language screening is crucial for identifying potential developmental disorders and risks.
- Low socioeconomic status emerges as a significant causal factor in language delay with increasing age.
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