Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43201, USA.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2019 Feb;47(2):245-257. doi: 10.1007/s10802-018-0451-5.
Growing evidence suggests that early symptoms of inattentiveness may affect the language development and academic success of young children. In the present study, we examined the extent to which profiles of inattentiveness and language could be discerned within a heterogeneous group of preschoolers attending early childhood special education programs (n = 461). Based on parent-reported observations of children's symptoms of inattentiveness and direct assessments of children's language skills (grammar, vocabulary, and narrative ability), three distinct profiles were identified. The three groups, representing levels of severity (at risk, almost average, above average), differed not only by their end of year performance, but also with respect to which their abilities changed over the course of the academic year. Children in the poorest performing profile had poorer mean scores in the spring of their preschool year on all measures, but exhibited patterns of gain that exceeded or equaled their peers in higher-performing groups, in the domains of vocabulary and grammar. Examination of subsequent kindergarten reading skills suggested that profile differences remained consistent. Findings underscore the associations between early symptoms of inattentiveness and language difficulties, and further indicate that these relations extend to the acquisition of early reading skills. Future research is needed to corroborate these findings with more robust measures of attention, and to understand the long-term associations between inattentiveness, language and literacy, and potential effects on these associations from early intervention.
越来越多的证据表明，注意力不集中的早期症状可能会影响幼儿的语言发展和学业成功。在本研究中，我们研究了在参加幼儿特殊教育计划的异质群体中（n=461），注意力不集中和语言的特征模式在多大程度上可以被识别出来。基于家长对儿童注意力不集中症状的观察报告和对儿童语言技能（语法、词汇和叙事能力）的直接评估，确定了三种不同的特征模式。这三组代表了严重程度（有风险、接近平均水平、高于平均水平），不仅在学年结束时的表现不同，而且在学年期间他们的能力变化也不同。在所有评估中，表现最差的那组儿童在其幼儿园学年初的平均得分都较差，但在词汇和语法领域，他们的成绩增长模式超过或等同于表现较好的组的同龄人。对后续幼儿园阅读技能的检查表明，特征差异保持一致。研究结果强调了注意力不集中的早期症状与语言困难之间的关联，并进一步表明，这些关联延伸到早期阅读技能的习得。需要进一步的研究来用更有力的注意力测量方法来证实这些发现，并了解注意力不集中、语言和读写能力之间的长期关联，以及早期干预对这些关联的潜在影响。
