Detecting abnormal auditory behaviours in infancy: The relationship between such behaviours and linguistic development

Abstract

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.

Preschool language intervention: a follow‐up study

“…It is perhaps important to restate at the start of our conclusions that in this paper we are not concerned about the multitude of differences there are within the group nor are we concerned about how they were put up for inclusion in the group when they were youngsters prior to admission to the unit. Certainly, there is a pressing need for clinicians to develop predictive assessments which should facilitate early and accurate identification of children with severe language disorders (Wren 1981, Ward 1984. Success is dependent upon prompt recognition of the problem by parents and professionals who are able to use clearly established routes of communication to the speech therapist.…”

Preschool language intervention—a follow‐up of some within‐group differences

“…A major problem faced by clinicians working with very young children is the accuracy of prognosis -the need to develop predictive checklists is well illustrated in the literature (Ward 1984, Wren 1981. It was, therefore, decided to extend the follow-up study by making a more detailed examination of the assessments completed on the children at follow-up.…”