Models and determinants of vocabulary growth from kindergarten to adulthood

Abstract

Language impairment is a significant risk factor for vocabulary development from childhood to adulthood. Individuals with speech impairment were less impaired on receptive vocabulary than individuals with language impairment. Further investigation into maternal and familial risk factors may provide targets for early intervention with children at risk for language impairment.

Language and reading comprehension in middle childhood predicts emotional and behaviour difficulties in adolescence for those with permanent childhood hearing loss

“…As in other children, these comprehension abilities will be subject to effects stemming from genetic differences (Dale et al., 1998; Gialluisi et al., 2014) and social experiences (Beitchman et al., 2008). Nevertheless, the present findings indicate that effective interventions focused on enhancing the receptive language abilities of children with PCHL may have subsequent benefits in terms of reducing EBD.…”

Predicting receptive vocabulary change from childhood to adulthood: A birth cohort study

“…In support of this, Harrison and McLeod (2010) reported that higher household income was a protective factor in the LSAC cohort. However, in the Ottawa Language Study Beitchman et al (2008) reported that the association between family income and vocabulary delays was not significant once other variables were accounted for. Increased family size at birth of the child is also a significant risk factor for early vocabulary delays (Harrison & McLeod, 2010;O'Callaghan et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 2013), whilst the evidence for an association between family structure (e.g.…”

“…Given this high prevalence, previous work has examined the underlying parental, family and child factors which influence receptive vocabulary development at 4-5 years of age. These studies have utilised data collected from the Mater University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) (Lawlor et al, 2006;O'Callaghan et al, 1995), the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) (Harrison & McLeod, 2010;Taylor, Christensen, Lawrence, Mitrou, & Zubrick, 2013), the Ottawa Language Study (Beitchman et al, 2008) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (Law, Rush, Parsons, & Schoon, 2013). The studies' findings, discussed further below and summarised in Table 1, show that vocabulary acquisition varies widely as a result of individual differences across a range of childhood environmental factors.…”

“…There is consistent evidence that low maternal educational attainment is a risk factor for delayed receptive vocabulary skills at 4-5 years of age (Beitchman et al, 2008;Lawlor et al, 2006;O'Callaghan et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 2013), whilst higher levels of maternal education is protective against delays (Harrison & McLeod, 2010;O'Callaghan et al, 1995). There is mixed evidence with respect to the role of paternal educational attainment and receptive vocabulary knowledge.…”

“…Increased family size at birth of the child is also a significant risk factor for early vocabulary delays (Harrison & McLeod, 2010;O'Callaghan et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 2013), whilst the evidence for an association between family structure (e.g. sole parent) and vocabulary delays is inconsistent with some (Beitchman et al, 2008;Law et al, 2013) but not other studies (O'Callaghan et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 2013) showing an association.…”