Effects of Placement Type on the Language Developmental Trajectories of Maltreated Children From Infancy to Early Childhood

Abstract

This study describes the developmental trajectories of language skills in infants with substantiated maltreatment histories over a 5-year period and evaluates the effect of three different custodial placements on their language trajectories over time: in-home (remaining in the care of the biological parent/parents), nonkin foster care, and nonparental kinship care. Participants included 963 infants reported to child protective services prior to their first birthday and whose maltreatment was substantiated. Results from covariate-controlled growth modeling revealed no significant placement effects. Across all groups, children's auditory and expressive communication scores decreased significantly from Wave 1 (intake) in the infants' first year to Wave 4, when children were about 3.5 years of age, then improved to baseline levels by Wave 5, when children were about 6 years old. Despite these fluctuations, children's average language scores in each placement group remained below the population mean at each wave of the study.

Executive, Emotional, and Language Functioning Following Childhood Maltreatment and the Influence of Pediatric PTSD

“…These findings also indicate that the non-PTSD group did not differ from the control group in language functioning, which is in contrast to previous research identifying language impairments within childhood maltreatment (De Bellis et al 2009;Kocovska et al 2012;Stacks et al 2011;Sylvestre and Merette 2010). The identified language impairments in PTSD are consistent with the findings of De Bellis et al (2009;3013), although inconsistent with Beers and De Bellis (2002), potentially because of the smaller sample size of their initial study.…”

“…Executive functions are self-regulatory actions to achieve goals, such as those actions of planning and problem solving, cognitive flexibility, response inhibition, working memory, processing fluency, and attention (Anderson 2002;Barkley 2012;Baron 2004;Henry and Bettenay 2010;Mahone and Slomine 2007;Willcutt 2010). Neuropsychological research has supported these hypotheses, identifying executive and language impairments in childhood maltreatment victims DePrince et al 2009;De Bellis et al 2009;De Bellis et al 2013;Fishbein et al 2009;Kavanaugh et al 2013;Kocovska et al 2012;Nolin and Ethier 2007;Samuelson et al 2010;Spann et al 2012;Stacks et al 2011;Sylvestre and Merette 2010).…”

Co-occurrence of communication disorder and psychiatric disorders in maltreated children and adolescents: relationship with global functioning

“…For example, the type and quality of linguistic stimuli provided to the child during development affects language acquisition, and mothers who are depressed, as well as those who maltreat their children, are less communicative and address their children with lower frequency. 12,13 In our sample, we found an association between PD and CD: 74.5% of children with a psychiatric diagnosis also had CD. These rates are higher than those found in the literature about the association between communication difficulties and emotional and behavioral problems: in prior studies, 30 to 50% of children with CD have been reported to exhibit behavior disorder.…”

“…11 Stacks et al studied language development in children aged 4, 8, 24, 39 and 70 months; their sample included children living with biological parents, in shelters, and with other caregivers, and the authors found lower language functioning (comprehension and expression) scores at all stages, with decline close to age 2 years and improvement to age 5 years (start of preschool) in all groups. 12 However, the age of the participants was different from that of our sample, the authors focused solely on language functioning, and the study did not analyze the relationship between PD and CD.…”

“…4 Others may show several problems as a result of exposure to maltreatment: externalizing and internalizing problems, [5][6][7][8] lower intellectual functioning, 8 poor academic achievement, 9,10 and communication disorders (CD). [11][12][13] Following exposure to traumatic stress, individuals are primed to misperceive threat and present overly emotional and ineffective cognitive responsiveness, as well as disorganized or maladaptive behavioral responses to perceived threats. 6 Child maltreatment is associated with language delay in both vocabulary and production of syntactic structures, 11 in auditory and expressive communication.…”