Associations between early motor milestones and speech-language abilities in 4 to 6-year-old children with DLD

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects speech and language abilities. However, studies have shown that this disorder is widely connected to other aspects of development. We conducted an observational study on the relationship between early motor milestones and speech-language development in 4 to 6-year-old children with DLD. We studied 30 children diagnosed with DLD and 30 typically developed children. To assess early motor milestones, parents provided written responses regarding their children's age at which they reached crawling and walking milestones. Speech-language abilities were assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Third Edition, Croatian adaptation), a measure of receptive vocabulary, Token Test for language comprehension, Vocabulary Test for expressive vocabulary, and Global Articulation Test for articulation. Our results showed that the model in which the timing of reaching crawling and walking predicted results on the Vocabulary Test had significant predictive power; 22% of the variance in expressive vocabulary could be explained by this model (P = .03, adjusted R² = .229). In diagnosing and planning treatment for children with DLD, the timing of early motor milestones can be considered connected to the future development of expressive vocabulary.