Poster #113 - Stability of Core Language Skill from Infancy to Adolescence in Typical and Atypical Development

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Language, Communication

Integrative Statement

Command of language is a cornerstone of cognitive and socioemotional development and fundamental for successful functioning in society. Early language skills merge into higher-order verbal and mental functioning and so have predictive validity for the development of speech, grammar, reading, intelligence, and academic achievement (Anderson & Freebody, 1983; Tamis-Lemonda, Bornstein, Baumwell, & Damast, 1996). Individual differences are a central characteristic of child language, and one conceptual issue in debates in language and developmental science is stability. We evaluated stability in typically developing children and children in four groups at risk for atypical development: preterm children, and children diagnosed with dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, and hearing impairment. The present study used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to examine if preterm birth, dyslexia, autism, and hearing impairment are biological moderators of language stability in a multiage, multidomain, multimeasure, and multireporter framework.

The study sample consisted of 5167 (50.2% girls) white, monolingual singletons: 4111 who were born term (M gestation = 39.78 weeks, SD = 1.29) without any complications or disabilities; 435 moderate-late preterm (M gestation = 35.05 weeks, SD = 1.19) and 51 very preterm (M gestation = 28.92 weeks, SD = 1.75) children; 322 children with dyslexia); 89 children with autism; and 221 children who had mild and/or moderate hearing impairment in one or both ears. Fifty-nine children fell into multiple at-risk groups. Data from language assessments were taken from children at 6 months and annually at 1-3, 7-9, 13, and 15 years old.

First, we produced an a priori structural equation model in which all language indicator variables from a wave loaded on their respective factors, and each language latent/observed variable was a function of the immediately preceding language latent/observed variable. Figure 1 presents the stability model on the full sample. Language stabilities were medium to large between successive waves. Next, we generated the generalized least square factor scores from the model and retained them for further analysis of the subgroups. As shown in Figure 2, both typical and atypically developing children’s language skills had medium to large average stabilities between successive waves over the span of 15 years, even accounting for child nonverbal intelligence and sociability and maternal age and education.

These findings suggest strong stability of language skill from very early in development through adolescence in typical and atypical groups. Our results replicate and extend previous studies with single or few language measures (Bonett, 2012; Duncan, Engel, Claessens, & Dowsett, 2014) taken over shorter periods of times (Bornstein, Hahn, Putnick, & Suwalsky, 2014). The fact that stability of core language transcended several heterogeneous moderating factors points to a highly conserved and robust individual-differences characteristic in human beings. The strong stability of child language skill from early in development across typical and at-risk groups underscores the importance of identifying lagging language skills and promoting the child’s language environment well before formal schooling.

Authors

• Marc H. Bornstein, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development & Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chun-Shin Hahn, NICHD
  Presenting Author

• Joy Cui, NICHD
  Non-Presenting Author

• Diane L. Putnick, NICHD
  Non-Presenting Author