El efecto de la pandemia sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje en los dos primeros años de vida / The effect of the pandemic on language development in the first two years of life

Antecedentes y objetivo: Los efectos que la pandemia por la COVID-19 ha podido tener en el desarrollo del lenguaje de la población infantil son todavía poco conocidos. En este estudio investigamos el efecto de la pandemia sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje evaluando el nivel de vocabulario y el nivel morfosintáctico en una muestra de niños y niñas de entre 18 y 31meses. Participantes y método: La muestra está compuesta por 153 niños y niñas de entre 18 y 31meses de edad. De estos participantes, 82 nacieron y se evaluaron antes de la pandemia (grupo PRE) y los otros 71 nacieron durante la pandemia y se evaluaron al final del curso 2021/2022, el último curso en el que se han mantenido medidas restrictivas derivadas de la pandemia en el contexto escolar (grupo POST). Los dos grupos de niños estaban igualados por edad y por nivel de estudios de las madres, y asistían a escuelas infantiles de similares características socioeconómicas. Resultados: Se observan puntuaciones más bajas tanto en nivel de vocabulario como de desarrollo morfosintáctico en los participantes del grupo POST que en los participantes del grupo PRE. Estos hallazgos son consistentes con los escasos estudios previos sobre el desarrollo lingüístico de los niños durante la pandemia. Conclusiones: Las medidas adoptadas durante la pandemia de la COVID-19 han tenido un impacto negativo en el desarrollo del lenguaje de los niños y niñas menores de 3años de edad. Es necesario prestar una atención especial a las necesidades de estos niños en el futuro próximo.(AU)

Background and objectives: The effects that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the language development of children are still poorly understood. In this study, we examine the effect of the pandemic on this development by analyzing the vocabulary and the morphosyntactic level in a sample of toddlers. Participants and method: One hundred and fifty-three boys and girls between 18 and 31months of age participated in the study. Of these participants, 82 were born and evaluated before the pandemic (PRE group) and the other 71 were born during the pandemic and were evaluated at the end of the 2021/2022 academic year, the last academic year in which restrictive measures derived from the pandemic were maintained in the schools (POST group). Both groups were matched by age and mother's educational level and attended nursery schools with similar socioeconomic characteristics. Results: We found lower scores both in vocabulary and morphosyntactic development in the POST group than in the PRE group. These findings are consistent with the scarce previous studies on children's language development during the pandemic. Conclusions: The measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a negative impact on the language development of children under 3years of age. It is necessary to pay special attention to these children due to the needs they may require in the immediate future.(AU)

[The effect of the pandemic on language development in the first two years of life]. / El efecto de la pandemia sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje en los dos primeros años de vida.

Background and objectives: The effects that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the language development of children are still poorly understood. In this study, we examine the effect of the pandemic on this development by analyzing the vocabulary and the morphosyntactic level in a sample of toddlers. Participants and method: One hundred and fifty-three boys and girls between 18 and 31 months of age participated in the study. Of these participants, 82 were born and evaluated before the pandemic (PRE group) and the other 71 were born during the pandemic and were evaluated at the end of the 2021/2022 academic year, the last academic year in which restrictive measures derived from the pandemic were maintained in the schools (POST group). Both groups were matched by age and mother's educational level and attended nursery schools with similar socioeconomic characteristics. Results: We found lower scores both in vocabulary and morphosyntactic development in the POST group than in the PRE group. These findings are consistent with the scarce previous studies on children's language development during the pandemic. Conclusions: The measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a negative impact on the language development of children under 3 years of age. It is necessary to pay special attention to these children due to the needs they may require in the immediate future.

The multimodality of infant's rhythmic movements as a modulator of the interaction with their caregivers.

Children's rhythmic movements during the first year of life possess a meaningful predictive validity for later communicative development. However, their role within adult-child interactions is still underexplored. In this study, we examined whether children's rhythmic movements were significantly responded by adults and the role of multimodality and object use in this process. We observed 22 dyads of 9-month-olds and their parents in natural play interactions. Infants' multimodal rhythmic movements increased the probability of adult responding. Adults offered different types of responses and significantly followed the child's focus of attention. These dynamics could support communicative development by promoting joint attention frameworks.

Sentence Repetition Tasks to Detect and Prevent Language Difficulties: A Scoping Review.

Sentence repetition tasks (SRTs) have been widely used in language development research for decades. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in studying performance in SRTs as a clinical marker for language impairment. What are the characteristics of SRTs? For what purposes have SRTs been used? To what extent have they been used with young children, in different languages, and with different clinical populations? In order to answer these and other questions, we conducted a scoping review. Peer reviewed studies published in indexed scientific journals (2010-2021) were analyzed. A search in different databases yielded 258 studies. Research published in languages other than English or Spanish, adult samples, dissertations, case studies, artificial models, and theoretical publications were excluded. After this exclusion, 203 studies were analyzed. Our results show that most research using SRT were conducted with English monolingual speakers older than 5 years of age; studies with bilingual participants have mostly been published since 2016; and SRTs have been used with several non-typical populations. Research suggests that they are a reliable tool for identifying language difficulties and are specifically suitable for detecting developmental language disorder.

Changes in the Synchrony of Multimodal Communication in Early Language Development.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyze the changes in temporal synchrony between gesture and speech of multimodal communicative behaviors in the transition from babbling to two-word productions. Method: Ten Spanish-speaking children were observed at 9, 12, 15, and 18 months of age in a semistructured play situation. We longitudinally analyzed the synchrony between gestures and vocal productions and between their prominent parts. We also explored the relationship between gestural-vocal synchrony and independent measures of language development. Results: Results showed that multimodal communicative behaviors tend to be shorter with age, with an increasing overlap of its constituting elements. The same pattern is found when considering the synchrony between the prominent parts. The proportion of overlap between gestural and vocal elements at 15 months of age as well as the proportion of the stroke overlapped with vocalization appear to be related to lexical development 3 months later. Conclusions: These results suggest that children produce gestures and vocalizations as coordinated elements of a single communication system before the transition to the two-word stage. This coordination is related to subsequent lexical development in this period. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6912242.

Validation of a scale for a nonword repetition task to assess lexical development / Baremación de una tarea de repetición de pseudopalabras para la evaluación del desarrollo léxico

It has been demonstrated that the ability to repeat non-words is a good marker of lexical development in a number of languages, including Spanish. In addition, the ability to repeat nonwords has been used as a good discriminator between typically developing children and children with language delays or other language difficulties. However, despite its potential usefulness for clinical and research purposes, there is no validated scale in Spanish. To address this situation, we present a scale based on a sample of 342 monolingual Spanish-speaking children aged from four to seven years. After data analysis, a scale was elaborated to provide populational references for colleagues working in educational, clinical and research fields. The results show a ceiling effect for six years olds, as well as for monomorphemic and bisyllabic items. Implications of these scores are discussed in the corresponding section (AU)

La habilidad para repetir pseudopalabras se ha mostrado como un buen marcador de desarrollo léxico en multitud de lenguas incluyendo el español. Además, permite discriminar en buena medida entre niños con desarrollo típico y niños con trastornos y retrasos del lenguaje. Sin embargo, pese a su potencial importancia para su uso clínico e investigador, en español no contamos con baremos para una lista de estímulos determinada. Con el objetivo salvar esta notable carencia, se realiza una tarea de repetición de pseudopalabras a una muestra total de 342 niños y niñas monolingües españoles de entre cuatro y siete años. Tras el análisis de los resultados se elaboró un baremo con el objeto de aportar referencias poblacionales a colegas que trabajan en las citadas áreas clínico-educativas y de investigación. Los resultados muestran un efecto techo de esta tarea a los 6 años, así como para los estímulos monomorfémicos y bisílabos. Las implicaciones de estos resultados y baremo obtenido son discutidas en el apartado correspondiente (AU)

Word and Nonword Repetition Abilities in Spanish Language: Longitudinal Evidence from Typically Developing and Late Talking Children.

This longitudinal study examined the early word and nonword repetition abilities of monolingual Spanish speaking children. We explored the role that word status, word length, and time play in repetition performance of children with different vocabulary levels. We also examined the predictive value of vocabulary level in repetition abilities. Thirty-seven children participated in this study: 15 late talkers and 22 typically developing children. Families completed the Spanish version of the MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory (MCDI) at age 2; children performed a word and nonword repetition task at three different moments, with a temporal interval of 6 months between Time 1 and Time 2, and eight months between Time 2 and Time 3, periods during which linguistic development takes place. We found significant effects for word status, word length, vocabulary level and time: words are repeated better than nonwords; one syllable items are easier to repeat than two and three syllable ones; the performance of late talking children is lower compared to typically developing children throughout the study; and repetition abilities improve longitudinally. In addition, early vocabulary level predicts subsequent repetition abilities and early nonword repetition abilities predict future nonword repetition performance.

Word and nonword repetition abilities in Spanish language: longitudinal evidence from typically developing and late talking children

This longitudinal study examined the early word and nonword repetition abilities of monolingual Spanish speaking children. We explored the role that word status, word length, and time play in repetition performance of children with different vocabulary levels. We also examined the predictive value of vocabulary level in repetition abilities. Thirty-seven children participated in this study: 15 late talkers and 22 typically developing children. Families completed the Spanish version of the MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory (MCDI) at age 2; children performed a word and nonword repetition task at three different moments, with a temporal interval of 6 months between Time 1 and Time 2, and eight months between Time 2 and Time 3, periods during which linguistic development takes place. We found significant effects for word status, word length, vocabulary level and time: words are repeated better than nonwords; one syllable items are easier to repeat than two and three syllable ones; the performance of late talking children is lower compared to typically developing children throughout the study; and repetition abilities improve longitudinally. In addition, early vocabulary level predicts subsequent repetition abilities and early nonword repetition abilities predict future nonword repetition performance (AU)

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