Language outcomes of 7-year-old children with or without a history of late language emergence at 24 months.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to investigate the language outcomes of 7-year-old children with and without a history of late language emergence at 24 months.

METHOD

One hundred twenty-eight children with a history of late language emergence (LLE) at 24 months and 109 children with a history of normal language emergence (NLE) at 24 months participated in direct behavioral assessment of multiple dimensions of language at 7 years. The children were recruited from a prospective cohort study of 1,766 epidemiologically ascertained 24-month-old singleton children.

RESULTS

The group mean for the LLE children was within the typical range on an omnibus measure of general language ability and measures of specific dimensions of language. However, a greater percentage of LLE children, relative to NLE children, performed below normative expectations on a measure of general language ability (20% versus 11%), speech (7% versus 2%), syntax (18% versus 8%), and morphosyntax (9%-23% versus 2%-14%), but not vocabulary or semantics.

CONCLUSION

The results provide support for growth models of language impairment that predict that late onset of language foretells a protracted growth difference for some LLE children relative to NLE children, particularly for syntax and morphosyntax.