A systematic scoping review on contextual factors associated with communicative participation among children with developmental language disorder

Abstract

Background: Variations in communicative participation of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) cannot be wholly explained by their language difficulties alone and may be influenced by contextual factors. Contextual factors may support or hinder communicative participation in children, which makes their identification clinically relevant. Aims: To investigate which contextual (environmental and personal) factors in early childhood are protective, risk or neutral factors for communicative participation among school-aged children with DLD, and to identify possible gaps in knowledge about this subject. Methods & Procedures: A scoping review was conducted based on a systematic search of studies published from January 2007 to March 2022 in Pubmed,Embase (without MEDLINE), CINAHL and PsycINFO. In total, 8802 studies were reviewed using predefined eligibility criteria, of which 32 studies were included for data extraction and critically appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (2021) tools. Main Contribution:The methodological quality of included studies was adequate to strong. Personal protective factors identified are being a preschool girl, reaching school age and being prosocial, while personal risk factors are becoming a teenager or adolescent, having low socio-cognitive skills and experiencing comorbid mobility impairment or behavioural problems. Gender after the preschool years and non-verbal abilities were not found to be of influence, and the role of socio-emotional skills is inconclusive. Receiving therapy is an environmental protective factor, while the association between socio-economical family characteristics with communicative participation is inconclusive.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Behavioral Difficulties in Greek Preschool Children with Developmental Language Disorder

“…Preschoolers' language skills are moderate predictors for social skills at the age of 8 years and for language skills at age of 7 years and do not significantly predict peer problems at ages 7 or 11 in children with DLD [22,23]. Yet, when children with DLD grow older, they experience increasing levels of peer difficulties even if there is evidence that their communicative skills increase from a preschool age to a school age [24,25,46]. In our study, even at that young age, parents tended to perceive that the social skills of their children were poorer compared with those of their peers.…”

“…Moreover, findings from the literature suggest that language skills at a preschool age predict social skills at later ages but not peer problems [22,23]. However, there are also reports that peer difficulties may arise as children grow older [24,25]. Preschool children with DLD may find everyday social communication hard both at home and in school based on their parents' and teachers' perspectives.…”

A look at speech therapy for learners with behavioral disorders

“…14 Dentro de lo normativo para la atención logopédica debemos tener en cuenta el enfoque tradicional que no es más que el vínculo logopeda educando, en el gabinete logopédico o consulta y el otro enfoque es el entorno habitual del educando dentro de un ambiente afectuoso, lo más natural y enriquecedor posible, ejemplo de ello la institución educativa, con sus agentes mediadores y fundamentales (la familia-comunidad). 15 Ambos enfoques enfrentan el reto de ofrecer servicios educacionales de calidad, con el fin de propiciar el desarrollo de la personalidad a partir de las potencialidades individuales de nuestros educandos, potencian el desarrollo del lenguaje y de todos sus componentes estructurales mediatizados por el desarrollo de la sociedad, satisfacen las variadas necesidades educativas individuales y especiales de cada uno de nuestros estudiantes. El método integral de atención logopédica es la herramienta que incluye la acción interdisciplinaria e integrada de médicos: neurólogos, pediatras, psiquiatras, psicólogos, maestros, educadoras, logopedas, trabajador social, padres y todo el entorno que rodea al niño, vinculados a la atención a educandos con trastornos en el comportamiento.…”