Tomblin J Bruce, Zhang Xuyang, Buckwalter Paula, O'Brien Marlea
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2003 Dec;46(6):1283-96. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2003/100).
The rates of change in the language status of children with language impairment unaccompanied by other developmental or sensory disorders (primary language disorder) were studied in a longitudinal sample of 196 children who were followed from kindergarten through 4th grade. Previous studies have shown that children with such language impairments have moderate rates of improvement during this age range. Also, those with the most specific deficits have the greatest likelihood of improvement. Cole and colleagues have hypothesized that such results could be due to the effect of regression to the mean (K. Cole, I. Schwartz, A. Notari, P. Dale, & P. Mills, 1995). This study used a baseline measure of language that was independent of the measure used for diagnosis in order to control for factors leading to regression to the mean. Patterns of change using the kindergarten diagnostic measure were compared to those using the baseline measure. Rates of diagnostic change between kindergarten and subsequent observation intervals showed patterns of change similar to those of past research. Comparisons using the baseline measure revealed no significant change in relative language status across the 4-year time period. The results showed that when the conditions for regression to the mean were controlled, the poor language of children with language impairments was very likely to persist during the primary school years.
在一个纵向样本中，对196名从幼儿园到四年级的儿童进行了研究，这些儿童患有语言障碍但无其他发育或感官障碍（原发性语言障碍）。以往的研究表明，患有此类语言障碍的儿童在这个年龄段有中等程度的改善率。此外，那些有最特定缺陷的儿童改善的可能性最大。科尔及其同事推测，这样的结果可能是由于均值回归的影响（K. 科尔、I. 施瓦茨、A. 诺塔里、P. 戴尔和P. 米尔斯，1995年）。本研究使用了一种独立于诊断所用测量方法的语言基线测量方法，以控制导致均值回归的因素。将使用幼儿园诊断测量方法的变化模式与使用基线测量方法的变化模式进行了比较。幼儿园与后续观察间隔之间的诊断变化率显示出与以往研究相似的变化模式。使用基线测量方法的比较显示，在4年的时间段内，相对语言状态没有显著变化。结果表明，当均值回归的条件得到控制时，患有语言障碍儿童的语言能力差在小学阶段很可能会持续存在。
