AsianScientist (Jul. 5, 2011) – Late-talking toddlers are no more likely to experience behavioral and emotional difficulties during childhood than children who have normal language development, a recent Pediatrics study reports.
Andrew Whitehouse and colleagues from the University of Western Australia tracked language delay from two years through to late adolescence, and found that late-talkers were no more likely to be shy, depressed, or aggressive than their peers.
“Expressive vocabulary delay at the age of two years is not in itself a risk factor for later behavioral and emotional disturbances,” the report said.
The study followed 1,387 two-year-old children from the Raine study, with 1,245 children achieving ‘normal’ language by two years of age and 142 being classed as late-talkers (9.9 percent).
These late-talkers scored in the lowest 15 percent on a list of 310 common words. A two-year-old typically says a few hundred words, but there is a lot of variation.
The late-talking toddlers also appeared to have more psychological problems, according to questions on a child behavior checklist that parents answered.
For instance, 13 percent of the late talkers had “internalizing” behavior – such as being shy, sad, or underactive – compared to eight percent of their peers who were “faster” talkers.
But that difference had vanished at age five, when their parents were approached again. It didn’t reappear for as long as the children were followed, up until age 17.
According to Whitehouse and colleagues, late talkers may have appeared to have early behavioral problems when they were more likely frustrated by not being able to communicate effectively, not because there is something else wrong.
The researchers cautioned that it was still important to pay attention to children with a language lag because persistent language deficits have been tied to mental health problems.
The article can be found at: Whitehouse et al. (2011) Late Talking and the Risk for Psychosocial Problems During Childhood and Adolescence.
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Source: Pediatrics Journal.
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