A systematic review of assessment instruments for linguistic precursors during child development, ages 6 to 18 months

Linguistic precursors (gaze, joint attention, gestures, social interaction, etc.) have a predictive value over the course of child development. The aim of the present review is to analyze the content structure, and the theoretical perspective, of assessment instruments that focus on linguistic precursors for the 6-18-month age group. The search was achieved through the following citation databases: BVS, MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, SciELO, Redalyc, Web of Science, Google Scholar, as well as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Elegible articles were obtained using the following terms: "neuropsychological tests," "nonverbal communication," "child language" and "infant" as well as their equivalents in Spanish and Portuguese. Twenty-six assessment instruments were found to be compatible with the eligibility criteria. From the results, 19 instruments explore various domains of linguistic precursors, while 7 are task-specific proposals. Five instruments are aimed at early detection of signs of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The implementation of Bruner's model of communicative functions was found on 15% of the instruments. This article provides timely information for clinicians who work with children during early stages of development, in relation to the methodical monitoring, assessment and accompaniment of infants and toddlers during the prelinguistic stage.