Language delay is a very common developmental disability which has long-lasting and powerful effects on mental health and educational achievement. Some children who have little or no language at 2 soon start talking; however, many continue to be severely delayed in language development. This research is an exploratory study to investigate specific language disability (SLD) and specific expressive languages disability (SELD) in 2-year-old children. The primary purpose is to learn more about the characteristics and outcomes of these disorders. Forty 2-year-olds, 20 with SLD and 20 with SELD, will be followed by means of bimonthly home visits between the ages of 2 and 3. Office assessments will be conducted at 24, 30, and 36 months of age. A comparison sample of 20 2-year-olds with normal language will be assessed at age 2 and age 3.
One aim of this research is to investigate how SLD, SELD, and normal children differ from each other in their symbolic play development, in their approach to problem-solving, in their mother-child interaction, and in their temperamental/personality characteristics. Secondly, we will collect outcome data in order to determine the relative proportions of 2-year-olds with SLD and SELD who attain normal language by 3. A major goal of our research is to identify variables measurable at 2 which will predict this positive outcome. Finally, we intend to examine whether SLD and SELD children differ in the rate and manner with which they acquire language from 2-to-3 and to compare their manner of language acquisition with patterns reported for normally developing younger children.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 17 publications
