Rescorla Leslie
Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Philadelphia, PA 19010, USA.
Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2011;17(2):141-50. doi: 10.1002/ddrr.1108.
Both small-scale and epidemiological longitudinal studies of early language delay indicate that most late talkers attain language scores in the average range by age 5, 6, or 7. However, late talker groups typically obtain significantly lower scores than groups with typical language histories on most language measures into adolescence. These findings support a dimensional account of language delay, whereby late talkers and typically developing peers differ quantitatively on a hypothetical language ability spectrum. Variation in language ability is presumed to derive from variation in skills subserving language, such as auditory perception/processing, word retrieval, verbal working memory, motor planning, phonological discrimination, and grammatical rule learning. Expressive language screening at 18-35 months can serve an important public health function by identifying children whose expressive delay is secondary to autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, hearing impairment, receptive language delay, or demographic risk. Finally, the review suggests that demographic risk associated with low SES may become more important as a causal factor in language delay as children get older.
早期语言发育迟缓的小规模纵向研究和流行病学纵向研究均表明，大多数说话晚的儿童在5、6或7岁时语言成绩达到平均水平。然而，在大多数语言测试中，直到青春期，说话晚的儿童组的成绩通常明显低于语言发育正常的儿童组。这些发现支持了语言发育迟缓的维度理论，即说话晚的儿童和正常发育的同龄人在假设的语言能力谱上存在数量差异。语言能力的差异被认为源于支持语言的技能差异，如听觉感知/处理、单词检索、言语工作记忆、运动计划、语音辨别和语法规则学习。18至35个月时的表达性语言筛查，通过识别那些表达性发育迟缓继发于自闭症谱系障碍、智力残疾、听力障碍、接受性语言发育迟缓或人口统计学风险的儿童，可发挥重要的公共卫生作用。最后，该综述表明，随着儿童年龄的增长，与低社会经济地位相关的人口统计学风险作为语言发育迟缓的一个因果因素可能变得更加重要。
