Early language abilities of high-risk infants

Ten children with a history of prematurity and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) were matched with 10 full-term controls on the single-word stage of language. Eleven dependent variables probed for qualitative differences between the groups. Measures of receptive language were based on two assessment procedures specifically designed for this study. Expressive language measures were taken from a parent-elicited language sample. Control subjects demonstrated superior performance on all receptive language and child verbosity measures despite their younger age.