Language status at age 3: Group and individual prediction from vocabulary comprehension in the second year.

ABSTRACT: The present research extends recent work on the prediction of preschool language skills by exploring prediction from decontextualized vocabulary comprehension. Vocabulary comprehension was a stronger predictor than parent-reported production, yielding a quadrupling of variance accounted for relative to prior studies. Parallel studies (Studies 1 and 2) are reported for two linguistically and geographically distinct samples. In both samples, decontextualized vocabulary comprehension late in the second year provided the best balance between model fit and parsimony in predicting language skills at age three. In Study 3, vocabulary comprehension prospectively identified children with low language status 2 years earlier than other prospective studies but with similar sensitivity and specificity.

SUBMITTER: Friend M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6296876 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature