Joensuu Eveliina, Munck Petriina, Setänen Sirkku, Lipsanen Jari, Huhtala Mira, Lapinleimu Helena, Stolt Suvi K J
Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 20014 Turku, Finland.
Children (Basel). 2021 Jun 16;8(6):510. doi: 10.3390/children8060510.
Preterm children (born <37 gestational weeks) who are born at very early gestational age (<32 weeks, very preterm, VP) and/or with very low birth weight (≤1500 g, VLBW) are at increased risk for language and literacy deficits. The continuum between very early language development and literacy skills among these children is not clear. Our objective was to investigate the associations between language development at 2 years (corrected age) and literacy skills at 7 years in VP/VLBW children. Participants were 136 VP/VLBW children and 137 term controls (a 6-year regional population cohort, children living in Finnish-speaking families). At 2 years of corrected age, language (lexical development, utterance length) was assessed using the Finnish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory and the Expressive Language Scale from Bayley scales of Infant Development, second edition. At 7 years, children's literacy skills (pre-reading skills, reading, and writing) were evaluated. Statistically significant correlations were found in both groups between language development at 2 years and literacy skills at 7 years (-values varied between 0.29 and 0.43, < 0.01). In the VP/VLBW group, 33% to 74% of the children with early weak language development had weak literacy skills at 7 years relative to those with more advanced early language skills (11% to 44%, < 0.001 to 0.047). Language development at 2 years explained 14% to 28% of the variance in literacy skills 5 years later. Language development at 2 years had fair predictive value for literacy skills at 7 years in the VP/VLBW group (area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) values varied between 0.70 and 0.77, < 0.001). Findings provide support for the continuum between very early language development and later language ability, in the domain of literacy skills in preterm children.
孕周小于37周出生的早产儿，若孕周极早（小于32周，即极早产儿，VP）和/或出生体重极低（≤1500克，即超低出生体重儿，VLBW），则出现语言和读写能力缺陷的风险会增加。这些儿童极早期语言发展与读写技能之间的连续性尚不清楚。我们的目的是研究极早产儿/超低出生体重儿2岁（矫正年龄）时的语言发展与7岁时的读写技能之间的关联。研究对象为136名极早产儿/超低出生体重儿和137名足月儿对照组儿童（一个6年的地区性人群队列，居住在讲芬兰语家庭的儿童）。在矫正年龄2岁时，使用芬兰版的《麦克阿瑟-贝茨交流发展量表》和贝利婴儿发展量表第二版中的表达性语言量表评估语言能力（词汇发展、话语长度）。在7岁时，评估儿童的读写技能（学前阅读技能、阅读和写作）。两组均发现2岁时的语言发展与7岁时的读写技能之间存在统计学显著相关性（-值在0.29至0.43之间，<0.01）。在极早产儿/超低出生体重儿组中，与早期语言技能更先进的儿童相比，33%至74%早期语言发展较弱的儿童在7岁时读写技能较弱（11%至44%，<0.001至0.047）。2岁时的语言发展解释了5年后读写技能差异的14%至28%。在极早产儿/超低出生体重儿组中，2岁时的语言发展对7岁时的读写技能具有较好的预测价值（接受者操作特征曲线（ROC）下面积（AUC）值在0.70至0.77之间，<0.001）。研究结果支持了极早期语言发展与后期语言能力在早产儿读写技能领域的连续性。
