Delayed language development is common and has serious sequelae into adulthood in terms of educational, social and emotional development. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that a group of language-delayed infants detected in the first year of life by the screen developed in the author's previous study, and receiving intervention at that stage, would not show language impairment at the age at which children are usually referred for speech and language therapy, whereas an untreated control group would do so. A sample (n = 122), of very young language-delayed children was divided into matched experimental and control groups. The mean (range) age of the sample was 10.6 (8-21) months. The experimental group received intervention, and both groups were followed up until they were 3 years of age to determine whether there were differences in language development at that stage. The results showed that at 3 years, 85% of controls showed language delay while only 5% of the experimental group did so. The differences in mean language quotient in experimental and control groups were statistically significant (t = 2.701, p < 0.01). At this stage, 30% of the controls had been referred for speech and language therapy, while none of the experimental group had so been. The intervention was found to take relatively little resource and the low dropout rate and high take-up indicated that it was popular with carers.

S Infants (321) who had been screened for language delay and auditory perceptual problems at 9 months of age were evaluated 1 year later. Of these infants 88.6% were correctly classified as at-risk or not-at-risk of delayed linguistic development. The correlation between performance on the screen and on a language scale was 0.49. The great majority of those with receptive and expressive delay continued to show problems at 2 years of age, whereas half of those with expressive delay alone were within normal limits. No evidence was found that a history of fluctuating hearing loss contributed to the development of either language delay or auditory perceptual problems.De jeunes enfants qui avaient ktk testes a l'iige de 9 mois en vue de dkceler d'kventuels retards du langage et probl2mes de perception auditive, ont ttC examinks un an apr2s. Ceci a permis de reveler l'exactitude de 88.6% des diagnostics qui visaient a ktablir si ces enfants couraient ou non un risque de retard dans leur dkveloppement linguistique. La corrklation entre la performance lors du test original et les rksultats obtenus ensuite et mesurks sur une tchelle du langage, ktait de 0.49. La grande majoritk de ceux quie accusaient des retards dans la rkception et I'expression continuait d'avoir des problemes a I'iige de 2 ans, bien que la moitik de ceux qui ne souffraient de retards que dans I'expression se soient trouvks dans les limites normales. Rien n'a Ctk trouvk qui aurait p u donner a penser qu'une succession fluctuante de pertes d'audition ait contribut au dkveloppement soit de retard du Iangage soit de problemes de perception auditive. 321 Kinder, die im Alter von 9 Monaten wegen eventueller Sprachverzogerung und auditiver Wahrnehmungsprobleme getestet wurden, sind ein Jahr spater nochmals gepriiji worden. V o n diesen Kindern sind 88.6% richtig klassifiziert worden, als entweder rnit oder ohne die Gefahr einer verzogerten Sprachentwicklung. Die Korrelation zwischen ihren Testleistungen und einer Sprachentwicklungsskala war 0.49. Die iiberwiegende Mehrheit von denen, die eine rezeptive und expressive Verzogerung zeigten, haben rnit 2 Jahren weiterhin Probleme erfahren, obgleich die Haljie von denen, die nur eine expressive Verzogerung zeigten, eine Leistung innerhalb der normalen Grenzen hatterr. Es entstand kein Beweis fur eine Beiziehung zwischen einem fluktuierenden Horverlust und der Sprachverzogerung oder den auditiven Wahrnehmungsproblemen.

SRecent developments in low‐cost computer technology suggest that substantial improvements are possible in communication aids for dysphasic patients. This study describes a recently developed communication aid and reports a case study of one application. The software (EasySpeaker for Windows) provides an easily customised and flexible icon‐based communication aid, which does not require the ability to read text, but which automatically records in detail the use being made of the device. The aid was given to a dysphasic patient in his own home for 4 weeks. Regular activity sessions were held throughout the period and data obtained from these sessions to identify learning and improvement on the device. Although improvements were found in speed and accuracy of operation, the use made of the aid for real communication by this patient was limited. Several possible reasons are identified for this and, in particular, the importance of illustrating specifically how such a system can be of benefit is emphasised.Les développements récents de technologies à coûts modérés d'ordinateurs font penser que des progrès substantiels sont possibles dans le domaine des aides à la communication pour dysphasiques. Cette étude décrit une aide à la communication récemment mise au point et rend compte d'une étude de cas en tant qu'application. Le logiciel (Easyspeaker pour Windows) fournit une aide à la communication à base d'icônes et facile à adapter selon les besoins, qui, n'exige pas de pouvoir lire des textes et qui enregistre automatiquement en détail l'usage qu'on fait due système. L'aide a été fournie à un dysphasique pour qu'il s'en serve à domicile pendant quatre semaines. Le patient a suivi des séances d'activités pendent cette période, et des données ont été récoltées sur ces séances afin d'identifier la contribution du système à sib apprentissage et aux progrès accomplis. L'on a pu observer un certain progrès dans la vitesse et l'exactitude des opérations; cependant l'usage fait de cette aide par le patient aux fins de communication réelle est resté limité. Plusieurs raisons possibles de ces limites sont avancées. En particulier il est très important de bien montrer au patient la façon dont il peut tirer avantage d'un tel système.Neuere Entwicklungen in preiswerter Computertechnologie weiser darauf hin, daß erhebliche Besserungen in Kommunikationshilfer für dysphasische Patienten möglich sind. In dieser Studie wire eine vor kurzem entwickelte Kommunikationshilfe beschrieben und über eine Fallstudie bei ihrer Anwendung berichtet. Die Software (EasySpeaker for Windows) bietet eine flexible, personalisierbare ikonbasierte Kommunikationshilfe, die keine Textlesefähigkeiter voraussetzt, die aber automatisch und detailliert den Gebrauct des Systems registriert. Die Hilfe wurde einem Dysphasiker zum vierwöchigen Gebrauch zu Hause mitgegeben. Regelmäßige Aktivitätssitzungen wurden während dieser Zeit abgehalten, bei denen Daten zur Feststellung des Lernens bzw. der Besserung mit dem Programm erhoben wurden. Obwohl eine Besserung in der Benutzungsgeschwindigkeit und in der Genauigkeit der Benutzung beobachtet wurde, war bei diesem Patienten der Einsatz der Hilfe für richtige Kommunikation beschränkt. Es werden mehrere Gründe hierfür identifiziert; insbesondere wird hervorgehoben, wie wichtig es ist, spezifische Informationen darüber zu vermitteln, wie das System helfen kann.

The author has developed a screening test which proved concurrently and predictively valid and accurate in detecting linguistic delay in infants under one year of age. The screen further identified those infants in whom linguistic delay was associated with generalised listening difficulties (Ward, 1992. In the study to be reported here, a sample of infants detected by the screen and showing linguistic delay with associated listening difficulties (N=100, mean age 9;4) was divided into matched experimental and control groups. The experimental group was treated at that stage by a novel methodology, and both experimental and control groups followed up for two years. In their fourth year of life, the experimental group children all showed normal or accelerated language development, whereas most of the control group continue to show serious linguistic delay. The implications in terms of service delivery are also discussed.

A screening test was developed in order to discover infants showing auditory perceptual abnormalities before the age of one year. The screen was a questionnaire designed to detect in infancy the abnormal auditory behaviours demonstrated by older children with receptive language delay based on auditory perceptual problems. The screen was administered by Health Visitors to 1070 infants at approximately nine months of age. One hundred and nineteen infants were discovered who demonstrated the behaviours under study and at follow‐up evaluation showed receptive language delay. A strong relationship was found between the number of behaviours detected and the degree of receptive language delay. The number of behaviours detected, however, could not alone be used to predict degree of language delay.