Which linguistic measures distinguish transient from persistent language problems in Late Talkers from 2 to 4 years? A study on Italian speaking children

Predictive Measures in Child Language Development: The Role of Familial History and Early Expressive Vocabulary

PURPOSE

Prediction of developmental language disorder in children under 3 years of age is challenging. Among early risk factors, research has focused on having a positive familial history (FH+) for language or literacy problems and on late language emergence, that is, late-talker (LT) status. The interaction between these two risk factors and their cumulative effect is still debated. Here, we (a) investigate the effect of FH+ on 24-month language development, (b) test for cumulative effects of FH+ status and early language delay on 36-month language outcomes, and (c) disentangle the direct and indirect effects of familial history (FH) on the language outcome.

METHOD

One hundred eighty-five Italian children were followed up longitudinally between 24 and 36 months of age (64 FH+ and 121 FH-) through parental questionnaires and direct child assessment.

RESULTS

At the age of 24 months, the FH+ group showed worse expressive vocabulary and higher prevalence of LT. At the age of 36 months, main effects of LT and FH were identified on lexical and phonological performances, respectively. Interestingly, significant interaction effects were identified on expressive vocabulary and phonological processing. Path analysis highlights that FH had a direct effect on later measures of phonology, whereas its effect on 36-month lexical abilities was indirect, via measures of expressive vocabulary at 24 months.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests specific predictive roles of FH and LT status on language development. Interestingly, FH+ seems to represent an additive risk for LT children. The use of cumulative risk measures is confirmed as a powerful approach to identify those children with the highest probability of developing persistent language difficulties.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26790580.

Expanding the molecular landscape of childhood apraxia of speech: evidence from a single-center experience

Background

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a genetically heterogeneous pediatric motor speech disorder. The advent of whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing techniques has led to increased identification of pathogenic variants in CAS genes. In an as yet uncharacterized Italian cohort, we aimed both to identify new pathogenic gene variants associated with CAS, and to confirm the disease-related role of genes already reported by others. We also set out to refine the clinical and neurodevelopmental characterization of affected children, with the aim of identifying specific, gene-related phenotypes.

Methods

In a single-center study aiming to explore the genetic etiology of CAS in a cohort of 69 Italian children, WES was performed in the families of the 34 children found to have no copy number variants. Each of these families had only one child affected by CAS.

Results

High-confidence (HC) gene variants were identified in 7/34 probands, in two of whom they affected KAT6A and CREBBP, thus confirming the involvement of these genes in speech impairment. The other probands carried variants in low-confidence (LC) genes, and 20 of these variants occurred in genes not previously reported as associated with CAS. UBA6, ZFHX4, and KAT6A genes were found to be more enriched in the CAS cohort compared to control individuals. Our results also showed that most HC genes are involved in epigenetic mechanisms and are expressed in brain regions linked to language acquisition processes.

Conclusion

Our findings confirm a relatively high diagnostic yield in Italian patients.

Early, typical, and late talkers: an exploratory study on predictors of language development in the first two years of life

Background

The consensus in scientific literature is that each child undergoes a unique linguistic development path, albeit with shared developmental stages. Some children excel or lag behind their peers in language skills. Consequently, a key challenge in language acquisition research is pinpointing factors influencing individual differences in language development.

Methods

We observed children longitudinally from 3 to 24 months of life to explore early predictors of vocabulary size. Based on the productive vocabulary size of children at 24 months, 30 children met our sample selection criteria: 10 late talkers and 10 early talkers, and we compared them with 10 typical talkers. We evaluated interactive behaviors at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, considering vocal production, gaze at mother's face, and gestural production during mother-child interactions, and we considered mothers' report of children's actions and gestures and receptive-vocabulary size at 15 and 18 months.

Results

Results indicated early precursors of language outcome at 24 months identifiable as early as 3 months in vocal productions, 6 months for gaze at mother's face and 12 months for gestural productions.

Conclusions

Our research highlights both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, identifying the early indicators of belonging to the group of late or early talkers underscores the significant role of this developmental period for future studies. On a practical note, our findings emphasize the crucial need for early investigations to identify predictors of vocabulary development before the typical age at which lexical delay is identified.

Lexical skills and gesture use: A comparison between expressive and receptive/expressive late talkers

BACKGROUND

Studies on late talkers (LTs) highlighted their heterogeneity and the relevance of describing different communicative profiles.

AIMS

To examine lexical skills and gesture use in expressive (E-LTs) vs. receptive-expressive (R/E-LTs) LTs through a structured task.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Forty-six 30-month-old screened LTs were distinguished into E-LTs (n= 35) and R/E-LTs (n= 11) according to their receptive skills. Lexical skills and gesture use were assessed with a Picture Naming Game by coding answer accuracy (correct, incorrect, no response), modality of expression (spoken, spoken-gestural, gestural), type of gestures (deictic, representational), and spoken-gestural answers' semantic relationship (complementary, equivalent, supplementary).

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

R/E-LTs showed lower scores than E-LTs for noun and predicate comprehension with fewer correct answers, and production with fewer correct and incorrect answers, and more no responses. R/E-LTs also exhibited lower scores in spoken answers, representational gestures, and equivalent spoken-gestural answers for noun production and in all spoken and gestural answers for predicate production.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Findings highlighted more impaired receptive and expressive lexical skills and lower gesture use in R/E-LTs compared to E-LTs, underlying the relevance of assessing both lexical and gestural skills through a structured task, besides parental questionnaires and developmental scales, to describe LTs' communicative profiles.

Evidence for a Pathogenic Role of CSMD1 in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a pediatric motor speech disorder. The genetic etiology of this complex neurological condition is not yet well understood, although some genes have been linked to it. We describe the case of a boy with a severe and persistent motor speech disorder, consistent with CAS, and a coexisting language impairment.Whole exome sequencing in our case revealed a de novo and splicing mutation in the CSMD1 gene.

[Formula: see text] Post-stroke acquired childhood aphasia. A scoping review

Aphasia has a great impact on children's lives, with stroke being its most common and studied etiology. However, our knowledge about this disorder is limited, the studies on this topic are sparse, and a consensus regarding its definition is lacking. In particular, the interpretation of this condition varied over time: from the rigid description of the so-called "standard doctrine" to the adoption of adult models for post-stroke aphasia. Therefore, this review provides a critical overview of childhood aphasia after stroke, focusing on its epidemiology, definition, diagnosis, and clinical manifestation. The scoping review approach was adopted, following PRISMA-ScR guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycInfo databases were searched for related peer-review papers in English. Forty-six records were identified; the majority were single cases and case series, only a few were reviews and observational studies. Epidemiologic data are scarce; a few studies report that aphasia affects about one-third of children post-stroke. Despite terminological differences, there is an overall agreement on the definition of post-stroke aphasia in children as a language disorder acquired after the age of two. Approaches for the diagnosis and evaluation vary widely, including both assessments for developmental language disorders and tests for aphasia in adults. The clinical manifestations described in children are numerous and varied, similar to those found in adults, in contrast with the "standard doctrine." This review highlights the need for further studies to improve the knowledge of this condition, develop validated and specific assessment tools, and standardize clinical management.

Sex/Gender Differences in the Language Profiles of Italian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Retrospective Study

Sex/gender (S/G) differences in ASD language profiles have been poorly investigated. The present study aims to explore whether male (M) and female (F) children with ASD and with normal non-verbal cognitive abilities differ in their linguistic profiles. A sample of 76 Italian children with ASD (range: 4.9-8 years), including 50 Ms and 26 Fs, was retrospectively recruited. Language profiles were analyzed using standardized tests for the evaluation of receptive and expressive vocabulary as well as grammar. Grammatical comprehension was the most impaired domain compared to the other language measures in both M and F children. Comparing language profiles between S/G, Fs showed significantly better scores than Ms in grammatical production (p = 0.002), and Ms showed better active negative sentence comprehension (p = 0.035). Moreover, comparing the language profiles between Ms and Fs with a receptive disorder, Fs had significantly worse grammatical comprehension and better grammatical production than Ms. Even among children without a receptive disorder, Fs had significantly higher grammatical production scores. The S/G differences in language profile, particularly better expressive language in Fs than Ms, can partially contribute to the delayed ASD diagnosis or underdiagnosis of Fs without intellectual disability. Finally, the results document the importance of accurately investigating both expressive and receptive abilities in children with ASD.

Describing communication profiles of low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers

INTRODUCTION

Late talkers represent a heterogeneous population. We aimed to describe communication profiles of low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers according to their receptive and expressive vocabulary size, considering communicative, linguistic, cognitive, and motor skills, as well as biological and environmental risk factors.

METHODS

Sixty-eight late talkers (33 born low-risk preterm and 35 full-term) were identified through a language screening at 30 months. Parents filled out the Italian Short Forms of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories and the Socio Conversational Skills Rating Scales. Children were assessed with the Picture Naming Game test and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development.

RESULTS

A two-step cluster analysis identified three distinct profiles among late talkers according to their receptive and expressive vocabulary size. Severe late talkers (25%) showed less frequent use of pointing, limited verbal imitation, receptive vocabulary size, lexical and sentence production, responsiveness and assertiveness, and lower cognitive scores than mild late talkers (40%). Moderate late talkers (35%) showed less frequent verbal imitation, limited lexical and sentence production and lower cognitive scores than mild late talkers. Male gender was significantly more represented in the severe late profile, whereas other biological and environmental factors did not differ among the three profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings highlighted the relevance of assessing communicative, lexical, grammar, pragmatic, and cognitive skills to describe late talkers' profiles. A deeper investigation of phonological skills might also contribute to a further understanding of interindividual variability in this population.

Is Specific Learning Disorder Predicted by Developmental Language Disorder? Evidence from a Follow-Up Study on Italian Children

Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is a complex disorder with a strong genetic component, characterized by varying manifestations and considerable differences among children. Several studies have highlighted that difficulties in language acquisition and the presence of Developmental Language Disorders (DLDs) are frequently associated with SLD, suggesting a continuity between the two disorders. This study aimed to add evidence on the proximal and distal predictors of SLD, focusing on the eventual continuity for the presence of DLD at 4-5 years, on some linguistic and communicative abilities at 27-30 months, and on biological and environmental factors. Our sample consisted of 528 families, whose children (Italian monolingual) participated in a screening program at the age of 27-30 months. When children were on average 8.05 years old, parents were asked to answer an interview aimed at collecting information about the children's language and learning development. Results showed that the prevalence of children with an SLD (7.01%) was in line with those reported in other similar studies. The diagnosis of SLD was significantly predicted by the previous diagnosis of DLD, by male sex/gender, and by the familial risk of SLD. Children with these characteristics had a 54% probability of presenting an SLD.

Language Development in Sex Chromosome Trisomies: Developmental Profiles at 2 and 4 Years of Age, and Predictive Measures

PURPOSE

Describing language development in children with sex chromosome trisomies (SCT) and testing the predictive value of early language measures on later outcomes.

METHOD

Thirteen children with SCT were followed longitudinally. Their developmental profile was assessed, with particular attention to language, at 2 and 4 years. The predictive value of direct (spontaneous speech analysis) and indirect (communicative development inventory) language measures at 2 on performances at 4 was tested.

RESULTS

Language performances at both ages were lower than non-verbal development. At 2, more than 50% of the group produced less than 50 words. At 4, impaired performances were observed in speech sound development and expressive morpho-syntax. Direct measures of Pre-syntactic development predicted later global language outcomes and Sentence Repetition. The number of consonants used at 2 was significantly related to Nonword Repetition at 4.

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights the importance of early detection and careful follow-up for children with SCT.

Integrating Gestures and Words to Communicate in Full-Term and Low-Risk Preterm Late Talkers

Young children use gestures to practice communicative functions that foster their receptive and expressive linguistic skills. Studies investigating the use of gestures by late talkers are limited. This study aimed to investigate the use of gestures and gesture–word combinations and their associations with word comprehension and word and sentence production in late talkers. A further purpose was to examine whether a set of individual and environmental factors accounted for interindividual differences in late talkers’ gesture and gesture–word production. Sixty-one late talkers, including 35 full-term and 26 low-risk preterm children, participated in the study. Parents filled out the Italian short forms of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB–CDI), “Gesture and Words” and “Words and Sentences” when their children were 30-months-old, and they were then invited to participate in a book-sharing session with their child. Children’s gestures and words produced during the book-sharing session were transcribed and coded into CHAT of CHILDES and analyzed with CLAN. Types of spontaneous gestures (pointing and representational gestures) and gesture–word combinations (complementary, equivalent, and supplementary) were coded. Measures of word tokens and MLU were also computed. Correlational analyses documented that children’s use of gesture–word combinations, particularly complementary and supplementary forms, in the book-sharing session was positively associated with linguistic skills both observed during the session (word tokens and MLU) and reported by parents (word comprehension, word production, and sentence production at the MB–CDI). Concerning individual factors, male gender was negatively associated with gesture and gesture–word use, as well as with MB–CDI action/gesture production. In contrast, having a low-risk preterm condition and being later-born were positively associated with the use of gestures and pointing gestures, and having a family history of language and/or learning disorders was positively associated with the use of representational gestures. Furthermore, a low-risk preterm status and a higher cognitive score were positively associated with gesture–word combinations, particularly complementary and supplementary types. With regard to environmental factors, older parental age was negatively associated with late talkers’ use of gestures and pointing gestures. Interindividual differences in late talkers’ gesture and gesture–word production were thus related to several intertwined individual and environmental factors. Among late talkers, use of gestures and gesture–word combinations represents a point of strength promoting receptive and expressive language acquisition.

Do Spoken Vocabulary and Gestural Production Distinguish Children with Transient Language Delay from Children Who Will Show Developmental Language Disorder? A Pilot Study

The literature on the role of gestures in children with language delay (LD) is partial and controversial. The present study explores gestural production and modality of expression in children with LD and semantic and temporal relationships between gestures and words in gesture + word combinations. Thirty-three children participated (mean age, 26 months), who were recruited through a screening programme for LD. Cognitive skills, lexical abilities, and the use of spontaneous gestures in a naming task were evaluated when the children were 32 months old. When the children were 78 months old, their parents were interviewed to collect information about an eventual diagnosis of developmental language disorder (DLD). According to these data, the children fell into three groups: children with typical development (n = 13), children with LD who did not show DLD (transient LD; n = 9), and children with LD who showed DLD (n = 11). No significant differences emerged between the three groups for cognitive and lexical skills (comprehension and production), for number of gestures spontaneously produced, and for the sematic relationships between gestures and words. Differences emerged in the modality of expression, where children with transient LD produced more unimodal gestural utterances than typical-development children, and in the temporal relationships between gestures and words, where the children who would show DLD provided more frequent representational gestures before the spoken answer than typical-development children. We suggest a different function for gestures in children with T-LD, who used representational gestures to replace the spoken word they were not yet able to produce, and in children with LD-DLD, who used representational gestures to access spoken words.

Worldwide national intervention of developmental screening programs in infant and early childhood

The prevalence of developmental disabilities is increasing worldwide over time. Developmental issues in infancy or early childhood may cause learning difficulties or behavioral problem in school age, further adversely affecting adolescent quality of life, which finally lead to low socioeconomic status in family, increase in medical expenses, and other relevant issues in various ways. Early childhood has brain plasticity, which means there is a high chance of recovering from developmental issues by early detection and timely intervention. Pediatricians are placed an ideal position to meet with young children till 6 years of age, of which age range is the time applicable to early intervention. Determining child’s developmental status can be made by 2 pathways such as developmental surveillance and developmental screening tests. For better results, pediatricians should update their knowledge about developmental issues, risk factors, and screening techniques through varying educational program or other relevant educating materials. This paper will update reports on the prevalence of developmental disabilities and review the recent results of the Korean developmental screening test and discuss relevant issues. Finally, it will be addressed the pediatrician’s role in early detecting developmental issues and timely intervention.

Sex differences in early language delay and in developmental language disorder

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental condition, occurring in about 3% to 7% of preschoolers, that can impair communication and negatively impact educational and social attainments, in spite of adequate neurological, cognitive, emotional, social development, and educational opportunities for language learning. Significant risk factors for DLD are male sex, familial history of early language delay, low parental education, and various perinatal factors. A strong sex effect with a higher prevalence of language delay and DLD in males than in females has been consistently reported. Neurobiological and environmental risk factors, interacting with each other, are probably responsible for the phenotypic expression of DLD. The aim of this brief review is to further the knowledge of the role of sex in early language delay and DLD by analyzing the evidence from four significant sources: epidemiological studies, studies on twins, family aggregation studies, and studies on sex chromosome trisomies. Data pertaining only to sex differences (biological and physiological characteristics of females and males) will be analyzed. Studies on family aggregations and twins confirm the role of genetic factors and of sex in determining language abilities and disabilities, but genes alone do not determine outcomes. Sex chromosome trisomies represent a unique example of the relationship between a genetic alteration and a language disorder. Clarification of how sex acts in determining DLD could provide new information on early risk factors and, thus, contribute to improve diagnosis and clinical management.

Language Profiles and Their Relation to Cognitive and Motor Skills at 30 Months of Age: An Online Investigation of Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Children

Purpose Wide interindividual variability characterizes language development in the general and at-risk populations of up to 3 years of age. We adopted a complex approach that considers multiple aspects of lexical and grammatical skills to identify language profiles in low-risk preterm and full-term children. We also investigated biological and environmental predictors and relations between language profiles and cognitive and motor skills. Method We enrolled 200 thirty-month-old Italian-speaking children-consisting of 100 low-risk preterm and 100 comparable full-term children. Parents filled out the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Infant and Toddler Short Forms (word comprehension, word production, and incomplete and complete sentence production), Parent Report of Children's Abilities-Revised (cognitive score), and Early Motor Questionnaire (fine motor, gross motor, perception-action, and total motor scores) questionnaires. Results A latent profile analysis identified four profiles: poor (21%), with lowest receptive and expressive vocabulary and absent or limited word combination and phonological accuracy; weak (22.5%), with average receptive but limited expressive vocabulary, incomplete sentences, and absent or limited phonological accuracy; average (25%), with average receptive and expressive vocabulary, use of incomplete and complete sentences, and partial phonological accuracy; and advanced (31.5%), with highest expressive vocabulary, complete sentence production, and phonological accuracy. Lower cognitive and motor scores characterized the poor profile, and lower cognitive and perception-action scores characterized the weak profile. Having a nonworking mother and a father with lower education increased the probability of a child's assignment to the poor profile, whereas being small for gestational age at birth increased it for the weak profile. Conclusions These findings suggest a need for a person-centered and cross-domain approach to identifying children with language weaknesses and implementing timely interventions. An online procedure for data collection and data-driven analyses based on multiple lexical and grammatical skills appear to be promising methodological innovations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14818179.

Late Language Emergence: A literature review

Infants usually say their first word at the age of 12 months; subsequently, within the next 6-12 months, they develop a vocabulary of approximately 50 words, along with the ability to make two-word combinations. However, late talkers (LTs) demonstrate delayed speech in the absence of hearing impairments, cognitive developmental issues or relevant birth history. The prevalence of late language emergence (LLE) in toddlers is reported to be 10-15%. Studies of LTs are both theoretically and clinically significant. Early diagnosis and clinical intervention may result in relatively stable speech capabilities by the early school years. The present article aimed to review both theoretical and empirical studies regarding LLE within the process of first language acquisition, as well as methods for the early diagnosis of delayed speech in children and the authors' own clinical and theoretical recommendations.

Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is frequent in childhood and may have long-term sequelae. By employing an evidence-based approach, this scoping review aims at identifying (a) early predictors of DLD; (b) the optimal age range for the use of screening and diagnostic tools; (c) effective diagnostic tools in preschool children.

METHODS

We considered systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and primary observational studies with control groups on predictive, sensitivity and specificity values of screening and diagnostic tools and psycholinguistic measures for the assessment of DLD in preschool children. We identified 37 studies, consisting of 10 systematic reviews and 27 primary studies.

RESULTS

Delay in gesture production, receptive and/or expressive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, or word combination up to 30 months emerged as early predictors of DLD, a family history of DLD appeared to be a major risk factor, and low socioeconomic status and environmental input were reported as risk factors with lower predictive power. Optimal time for screening is suggested between age 2 and 3, for diagnosis around age 4. Because of the high variability of sensitivity and specificity values, joint use of standardized and psycholinguistic measures is suggested to increase diagnostic accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

Monitoring risk situations and employing caregivers' reports, clinical assessment and multiple linguistic measures are fundamental for an early identification of DLD and timely interventions.

Early receptive and expressive lexicons and language and pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years - A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

The long-term associations between early receptive/expressive lexical skills and later language/pre-literacy skills require clarification.

AIMS

To study the association between and predictive values of early receptive/expressive lexical skills and language/pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years, and to examine the language profiles at 5;0 years of children with weak receptive language/expressive lexical skills at 2;0 years.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

The participants were 66 monolingual children. Their lexical skills were measured using the Finnish short-form version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories at 1;6 and 2;0 years. Receptive language skills were measured at 2;0 years using the Reynell Developmental Language Scales III. A broader assessment at 5;0 years measured lexical, phonological, morphological and pre-literacy skills.

RESULTS

Significant associations between receptive/expressive lexical skills at 1;6 years and language and pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years were found. Both receptive language and expressive lexical development measured at 2;0 years were greatly and relatively evenly associated with language and pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years. Lexicon/language variables at 1;6 years and 2;0 years had statistically significant predictive values for general language and pre-literacy scores at 5;0 years. The best models that included early lexical predictors explained 20-34% of later language/literacy outcome. Weak skills at 2;0 years proposed vulnerability in language and pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Language and pre-literacy skills at 5;0 years can to some extent be explained by early receptive language and/or expressive lexical development. Further assessment and/or follow-up is important for children who have had weak language/lexical skills at 2;0 years.

Efficacy of the Treatment of Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review

Background. Language disorder is the most frequent developmental disorder in childhood and it has a significant negative impact on children’s development. The goal of the present review was to systematically analyze the effectiveness of interventions in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) from an evidence-based perspective. Methods. We considered systematic reviews, meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), control group cohort studies on any type of intervention aimed at improving children’s skills in the phono-articulatory, phonological, semantic-lexical, and morpho-syntactic fields in preschool and primary school children (up to eight years of age) that were diagnosed with DLD. We identified 27 full-length studies, 26 RCT and one review. Results. Early intensive intervention in three- and four-year-old children has a positive effect on phonological expressive and receptive skills and acquisitions are maintained in the medium term. Less evidence is available on the treatment of expressive vocabulary (and no evidence on receptive vocabulary). Intervention on morphological and syntactic skills has effective results on expressive (but not receptive) skills; however, a number of inconsistent results have also been reported. Only one study reports a positive effect of treatment on inferential narrative skills. Limited evidence is also available on the treatment of meta-phonological skills. More studies investigated the effectiveness of interventions on general language skills, which now appears as a promising area of investigation, even though results are not all consistent. Conclusions. The effectiveness of interventions over expressive and receptive phonological skills, morpho-syntactic skills, as well as inferential skills in narrative context underscores the importance that these trainings be implemented in children with DLD.

Exploring Agreement between MB-CDI Short Forms for Evaluating the Language Skills of Italian Children Aged 18-24 Months

INTRODUCTION

The short forms of MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI) are widely used for assessing communicative and linguistic development in infants and toddlers. Italian norms for the Words and Gestures (WG) and Words and Sentences (WS) short forms overlap between 18 and 24 months.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the agreement between these two forms.

METHODS

Parents of 104 children aged 18-24 months filled in both questionnaires.

RESULTS

The two questionnaires showed high agreement in measuring expressive vocabulary size and the percentile of lexical production and good agreement in identifying children at-risk for language delay (75% of the cases were accurately identified). Both short forms include a list of 100 words and a set of questions investigating potential risk factors for communication and language disorders. Ten children with an expressive vocabulary <10th percentile were compared to 10 with typical language development. Scores for children <10th percentile were significantly lower than their peers, in addition to scores of lexical comprehension, gesture-word, and 2-word combinations, and phonological accuracy, imitation of new words, and decontextualized use of language.

CONCLUSIONS

Short forms of the Italian MB-CDI can be used interchangeably for evaluating lexical production, but each one offers different quantitative and qualitative information on the behaviours related to language acquisition.

A Parent-Implemented Language Intervention for Late Talkers: An Exploratory Study on Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Children

Parent-implemented language interventions have been used for children with expressive language delays, but no study has yet been carried out using this intervention for low-risk preterm children. The current study examined the effect of a parent-implemented dialogic book reading intervention, determining also whether the intervention differently impacted low-risk preterm and full-term children. Fifty 31-month-old late talkers with their parents participated; 27 late talkers constituted the intervention group, and 23 constituted the control group. The overall results indicated that more children in the intervention group showed partial or full recovery of their lexical expressive delay and acquired the ability to produce complete sentences relative to the control group. Concerning full-term late talkers, those in the intervention group showed a higher daily growth rate of total words, nouns, function words, and complete sentences, and more children began to produce complete sentences relative to those in the control group. Concerning low-risk preterm late talkers, children in the intervention group increased their ability to produce complete sentences more than those in the control group. We conclude that a parent-focused intervention may be an effective, ecological, and cost-effective program for improving expressive lexical and syntactic skills of full-term and low-risk preterm late talkers, calling for further studies in late talkers with biological vulnerabilities.

Speech and Language Skills of Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers: The Role of Child Factors and Parent Input

Among children in the third year of life, late talkers comprise from 9% to 20%. This range seems to increase when addressing preterm children. This study examined video-recorded child spontaneous speech during parent-child book sharing as well as linguistic skills reported through the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI) Short Form in 61 late talkers aged 30 months old (26 low-risk preterm, 8 females; 35 full-term, 12 females). Differences between low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers in child language measures and parental speech input were tested, as were the roles of child and parent factors on child language. Low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers showed similar speech and language skills. Similarly, no differences were found in measures of parental speech between groups. Child cognitive score, chronological age, and low-risk preterm status were positively associated with lexical diversity, rate, and composition of child speech production, whereas family history for language and/or learning disorders as well as parent measures of lexical diversity, rate, and grammatical complexity were negatively associated with the above child variables. In addition, child cognitive score and low-risk preterm status were positively associated with the MB-CDI measures of word and sentence production. Findings are discussed in terms of the need of good practices when following up on low-risk preterm children and of interventions targeting parents' input to preterm and full-term late talkers.

Grammatical Comprehension in Italian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Language deficits represent one of the most relevant factors that determine the clinical phenotype of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The main aim of the research was to study the grammatical comprehension of children with ASD. A sample of 70 well-diagnosed children (60 boys and 10 girls; aged 4.9–8 years) were prospectively recruited. The results showed that language comprehension is the most impaired language domain in ASD. These findings have important clinical implications, since the persistence of grammatical receptive deficits may have a negative impact on social, adaptive and learning achievements. As for the grammatical profiles, persistent difficulties were found during the school-age years in morphological and syntactic decoding in children with relatively preserved cognitive and expressive language skills. These data and the lack of a statistically significant correlation between the severity of ASD symptoms and language skills are in line with the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) perspective that considers the socio-communication disorder as a nuclear feature of ASD and the language disorder as a specifier of the diagnosis and not as a secondary symptom anymore. The presence of receptive difficulties in school-age ASD children with relatively preserved non-verbal cognitive abilities provides important hints to establish rehabilitative treatments.