Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Department of Education, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
J Commun Disord. 2021 Sep-Oct;93:106138. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106138. Epub 2021 Jun 17.
Studies have shown that many children with early language difficulties also have delays in social-emotional competencies as well as social-emotional and behavioral problems. It is unclear if these conditions are causally related, if they share a common underlying etiology, or if there are bidirectional effects. Studies investigating these associations have mostly involved children who are already using words to communicate, but it is important to know whether delays in preverbal communication and language development have any effects on these associations. The aim of the present study was to examine associations between preverbal communication and early verbal skills in infancy and subsequent social-emotional competencies and ensuing social-emotional and behavioral problems in early toddlerhood. The role of background factors known to influence early language development was also examined.
The sample consisted of 395 children (51.6% boys) from the Finnish Steps Study cohort. Language was assessed at age 13 months (+ 1 month) with the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory for Infants (CDI-I), and the social-emotional domain was assessed at age < 17 months with the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA).
Infants with lower preverbal gestural communication and receptive language skills had a higher risk of delays in social-emotional competencies in toddlerhood than children with better communication skills, but not of elevated social-emotional and behavioral problems.
The results indicate that lower early communication skills can predict delays in the development of social-emotional competencies, which has been found to be a risk factor for later development of social-emotional and behavioral problems. It is important to monitor early communication skills to provide guidance to parents in supporting early pragmatic communication and language development in infancy, if needed.
研究表明，许多有早期语言障碍的儿童也存在社会情感能力延迟以及社会情感和行为问题。目前尚不清楚这些情况是否存在因果关系，它们是否具有共同的潜在病因，或者是否存在双向影响。研究这些关联的大多数研究都涉及已经使用语言进行交流的儿童，但了解言语前沟通和语言发展的延迟是否会对这些关联产生任何影响很重要。本研究的目的是探讨婴儿期言语前沟通和早期语言技能与随后的社会情感能力以及幼儿期随后的社会情感和行为问题之间的关联。还研究了已知会影响早期语言发展的背景因素的作用。
该样本由芬兰 Steps 研究队列中的 395 名儿童（51.6％为男孩）组成。语言评估在 13 个月（+ 1 个月）时采用 MacArthur 婴儿沟通发展量表（CDI-I）进行，社会情感领域在 < 17 个月时采用 Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment（BITSEA）进行。
与具有更好沟通能力的儿童相比，具有较低言语前手势沟通和接受性语言技能的婴儿在幼儿期社会情感能力延迟的风险更高，但不存在情绪和行为问题。
结果表明，早期沟通技能较低可能预示着社会情感能力发展的延迟，这已经被发现是以后社会情感和行为问题发展的风险因素。重要的是要监测早期沟通技能，如果需要，为父母提供支持婴儿期早期实用沟通和语言发展的指导。
