Hablantes Tardíos (Inglés)
Hablantes Tardíos (Inglés)
Hablantes Tardíos (Inglés)
Research Article
Purpose: This study was designed to (a) identify socioeconomic status, being a nonsingleton, older
sociodemographic, pregnancy and birth, family health, maternal age at birth, moderately low birth weight,
and parenting and child care risk factors for being a late lower quality parenting, receipt of day care for less
talker at 24 months of age; (b) determine whether late than 10 hr/week, and attention problems. Being a
talkers continue to have low vocabulary at 48 months; late talker increased children’s risk of having low
and (c) investigate whether being a late talker plays a vocabulary at 48 months and low school readiness
unique role in children’s school readiness at 60 months. at 60 months. Family socioeconomic status had the
Method: We analyzed data from the Early Childhood largest and most profound effect on children’s school
Longitudinal Study, a population-based sample of readiness.
9,600 children. Data were gathered when the children Conclusions: Limited vocabulary knowledge at 24 and
were 9, 24, 48, and 60 months old. 48 months is uniquely predictive of later school readiness.
Results: The risk of being a late talker at 24 months Young children with low vocabularies require additional
was significantly associated with being a boy, lower supports prior to school entry.
I
t is well established that children’s language abilities mathematical abilities (Jordan, Levine, & Huttenlocher,
are critical to their academic success. Studies have 1995; Pappas, Ginsburg, & Jiang, 2003; Purpura, Hume,
consistently shown that language supports children’s Sims, & Lonigan, 2011). Larger vocabularies have been
reading abilities in early and later grades (Catts, Fey, associated with number naming abilities, knowledge of
Tomblin, & Zhang, 2002; National Institute of Child measurement and shapes, and geometry and the ability to
Health and Human Development [NICHD] Early Child manipulate symbolic representations (Hornung, Schiltz,
Care Research Network, 2005; Scarborough, 2001; Storch Brunner, & Martin, 2014; Vukovic & Lesaux, 2013). In ad-
& Whitehurst, 2002). Children with stronger language abil- dition, language abilities have been found to promote chil-
ities, and in particular larger vocabularies, have better dren’s behavioral functioning. For example, children with
reading comprehension and decoding skills than children stronger language are better able to communicate with
with weaker language abilities (Braze, Tabor, Shankweiler, teachers and peers and to regulate their behavior and emo-
& Mencl, 2007; Schatschneider, Fletcher, Francis, Carlson, tions (Carson, Klee, Lee, Williams, & Perry, 1998; Cole,
& Foorman, 2004; Verhoeven & Van Leeuwe, 2008). Al- Armstrong, & Pemberton, 2010; Menting, Van Lier, &
though less well studied, investigations have also demon- Koot, 2010; Qi & Kaiser, 2004).
strated significant relations between language and children’s Because of the importance of language, efforts have
been made to identify children who may be at risk for learn-
ing difficulties early in life. Much attention has been given
a
Teachers College, Columbia University, University Park, NY to late talkers or children who have limited expressive vocab-
b
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park ularies at 2 years of age. Interest in this group of children
c
University of California, Irvine began 15 to 20 years ago with the seminal works of Thal
d
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA and Bates (Thal, 1991; Thal & Bates, 1988), Paul (1991,
Dana Bitetti is now at La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA. 1993), and Rescorla and colleagues (Rescorla & Merrin,
Correspondence to Carol Scheffner Hammer: 1998; Rescorla, Roberts, & Dahlsgaard, 1997). Since work
carol.hammer@tc.columbia.edu in this area began, researchers have attempted to identify
Editor: Sean Redmond factors that place children at risk for being late talkers and
Associate Editor: Carolyn Mervis have investigated late talkers’ long-term outcomes.
Received December 3, 2015
Revision received July 30, 2016
Accepted August 8, 2016 Disclosure: The authors have declared that no competing interests existed at the time
https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0417 of publication.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017 • Copyright © 2017 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 607
Despite this work’s many contributions, it has been significant factor in three studies that included this variable
difficult to generalize their findings to the larger population in the analyses. Complementing this finding, TEDS found a
of U.S. children. This is because the majority of studies in- genetic component to late talking. TEDS and Generation R
volve clinical samples with relatively small numbers of par- also found a relationship between late talking and exter-
ticipants, limited diversity in terms of socioeconomic status nalizing problems. One or two studies tested the following
(SES), and unspecified racial or ethnic identities (Bavin & possible risk factors, which were not found to be signifi-
Bretherton, 2013). For example, Thal and Bates (Thal, 1991; cantly related to being a late talker at 18 to 24 months:
Thal & Bates, 1988) studied the development of 10 late maternal mental health, maternal behavioral risk factors
talkers and 10 language-matched peers (SES not provided). (e.g., cigarette smoking), quality of parenting, and attendance
Paul (Paul & Fountain, 1999; Paul & Shiffer, 1991) investi- in day care. The studies that followed children into their
gated 36 late talkers from primarily middle-SES homes. school years found that late talkers display later language
Rescorla and colleagues (Rescorla & Merrin, 1998; Rescorla, abilities at the lower end of the typical range, with a subset
Roberts, & Dahlsgaard, 1997) followed the language devel- of these children showing specific language impairment
opment of 34 late talkers and 21 typically developing children (SLI; Dale & Hayiou-Thomas, 2013; Rice et al., 2008).
of middle and upper-middle SES. Population-based studies Although these studies have made valuable contribu-
are needed to better understand the risk factors for being a tions, additional research is needed for several reasons. First,
late talker as well as whether and to what extent late taking most of these studies took place outside of the United States.
may interfere with children’s school readiness. This, of course, is not by itself a limitation; however, the
To date, several community-based and population- United States differs from European countries and Australia
based studies have been conducted. Two took place in in many ways, including its racial and ethnic diversity and
Australia: (a) the Randomly Ascertained Sample of Children its educational, medical, and political contexts that can af-
born in Australia’s Largest State (RASCL), a longitudinal fect children’s development. Thus, a study conducted on a
study of 2,224 children from birth through 8 years of age sample from the United States would broaden the field’s
(cf. Rice, Taylor, & Zubrick, 2008; Zubrick, Taylor, Rice, & understanding of the effect of being a late talker in a more
Slegers, 2007), and (b) the Early Language in Victoria Study, diverse context. Second, three of the studies—the RASCL,
a longitudinal study of 1,911 children from birth through Early Language in Victoria, and Denmark studies—focused
age 4 years, which also included children learning English on children’s later development of their language abilities
as a second language (cf. Reilly et al., 2006, 2010). Others but not academic achievement or school readiness. It is
were conducted in the Netherlands, Sweden, Demark, and important to understand whether being a late talker is a
England and Wales. The study conducted in the Netherlands factor that affects children’s school readiness and academic
was titled “Generation R,” which was a longitudinal study outcomes given that academic success is critical for children’s
of more than 3,700 children who were assessed at 18 months future well-being. Third, the Early Language in Victoria,
and during the preschool years (Henrichs et al., 2011, 2013). TEDS, and Denmark studies investigated a relatively limited
The Swedish study involved more than 1,500 children who set of characteristics when identifying risk factors for low
were recruited at birth (Westerlund & Lagerberg, 2008). vocabulary at 24 months. An increased understanding is
The study in Denmark was a cross-sectional study of chil- needed of the role that various demographic, neurodevelop-
dren at 2 and 3 years of age (Bleses & Vach, 2013; note mental, maternal, and environmental factors and parenting
that middle-SES families were overrepresented in this study). and child care experiences may have in placing children at
The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), which was risk for being a late talker and the effect these may have
carried out in England and Wales, was a longitudinal study on children’s later development (Bavin & Bretherton, 2013;
of twins who were followed from birth through age 12 years Bleses & Vach, 2013). This study was designed to address
(cf. Dale, Harlaar, Hayiou-Thomas, & Plomin, 2010; Dale these needs. The study (a) involved a population-based sample
et al., 1998). In addition, data from the NICHD Early Child from the United States, (b) included a large number of poten-
Care Study, a birth cohort study conducted in the United tial risk factors associated with late talking and later school
States, have been used to investigate children’s vocabulary readiness skills that have been implicated in the literature,
delays at 3 years of age and beyond (La Paro, Justice, Skibbe, and (c) focused on the unique role of late talking in school
& Pianta, 2004). readiness by targeting children’s language, literacy, math,
In general, these studies identified potential risk fac- and socioemotional outcomes at 48 and 60 months of age.
tors for being a late talker, although the specific risk fac-
tors considered and the number of factors included in the
analyses varied across the studies. Being a boy and of low Risk Factors Affecting Development
SES were identified as risk factors for late talking in most A number of factors may place children at risk for
of the studies. Low birth weight was found to be a factor being a late talker at age 2 years and may affect children’s
in one of the three studies that considered it. Preterm birth vocabulary, reading, math, and behavioral abilities during
was identified in one of two studies that investigated this the preschool years. These include sociodemographic fac-
factor. Low maternal age was found to be factor in being tors, pregnancy and birth characteristics, family health and
a late talker in the Swedish study but not in the RASCL family history of learning problems, parenting and child
study. Also, family history of language difficulties was a care, and early behavioral functioning. Many of these factors
608 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
have been targeted in various studies, which typically have Children’s race/ethnicity is another factor that needs to
involved relatively small samples and/or have followed be considered, although the findings in this research area are
children for a relatively short time period. To our knowl- also inconsistent. In a study of late talkers, Poll and Miller
edge, no study has simultaneously examined all of these (2013) did not observe an effect of race on children’s lan-
factors in a single longitudinal investigation of late talkers. guage abilities, nor did Nelson, Welsh, Trup, and Greenberg
Investigating these factors simultaneously allows for more (2011) in their study of the prevalence of language delay in
accurate estimation of the risk uniquely attributable to any Head Start children. Likewise, Horwitz et al. (2003) reported
one factor, thereby helping to better establish whether the that non-White children had a relatively low risk for language
factor should be the target of early screening and interven- delay compared with White children. However, La Paro
tion efforts. et al. (2004) found that African American children with a
language impairment at age 3 years were 13 times more likely
Sociodemographic Factors than their White peers to continue to have a language impair-
One key sociodemographic factor is gender, which ment at 54 months of age. When maternal sensitivity and
has been identified as a risk factor for being a late talker warmth were taken into account, this effect disappeared.
as well as for reading disabilities in numerous studies. Boys A significant effect of race/ethnicity on children’s reading
appear to be at greater risk than girls for low vocabulary and math abilities has been observed. For example, data from
early in life (Bavin & Bretherton, 2013; Dale & Hayiou- NCES show that African American and Hispanic children
Thomas, 2013; Zubrick et al., 2007). For example, in their are more likely to score lower than White children in reading
population-based study, Zubrick et al. (2007) found that and math as they progress through school. However, larger
boys were nearly three times more likely to be a late talker percentages of African American and Hispanic children come
than girls; however, Reilly et al. (2007) did not find an from families of low SES compared with White children.
effect of gender on late talking status at 24 months of age. Thus, race and SES may be confounded in these findings.
Other studies have found boys to be at higher risk for
low language during the preschool years (cf. Harrison & Pregnancy and Birth Characteristics
McLeod, 2010; Maatta, Laakso, & Tolvanen, 2012). Addi- Pregnancy and birth characteristics that may affect
tional studies have shown that girls have stronger reading children’s abilities include maternal age, low birth weight,
abilities than boys. For example, data from the Early Child- being a twin, medical and behavioral risks during preg-
hood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort showed nancy, and complications during delivery. For example,
that girls entered kindergarten with stronger literacy skills older maternal age at children’s birth has been related to
(Ready, LoGerfo, Burkham, & Lee, 2005). In addition, SLI (Delgado, Vagi, & Scott, 2007) but not to late talker
gender has been found to be a predictor of reading achieve- status (Reilly et al., 2007; Zubrick et al., 2007). Low birth
ment in early grades (Campisi, Serbin, Stack, Schwartzman, weight has been associated with being a late talker (Rescorla,
& Ledingham, 2009). Less is known about the role of gen- 2013), lower cognitive functioning (Hack, Taylor, & Klein,
der in early math or behavioral abilities. 1995), poorer academic abilities at school entry (Lynch, 2011),
SES and related factors have also been implicated and impairments in self-regulation (Klebanov, Brooks-Gunn,
as risk factors in the Early Language in Victoria and & McCormick, 2001). Being a twin places children at greater
TEDS studies of late talkers and in studies of children’s risk for being a late talker (Reilly et al., 2007) and having
academic abilities (Bavin & Bretherton, 2013; Dale & lower language abilities (Bishop, Price, Dale, & Plomin,
Hayiou-Thomas, 2013; Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder, 2003; Rutter, Thorpe, Greenwood, Northstone, & Golding,
2013). It must be noted, however, that economic disadvan- 2003); the risk is higher for monozygotic twins (as op-
tage was not found to be a factor in the RASCL study posed to dizygotic twins; Rice, Zubrick, Taylor, Gayan, &
(Zubrick et al., 2007) or the Early Language in Victoria Bontempo, 2014).
Study (Reilly et al., 2007). Zubrick et al. (2007) argued The evidence on the role of medical and behavioral
that neurobiological and genetic factors operate across risks in children’s language and academic outcomes is mixed.
families of varying sociodemographic characteristics. Others Some studies have found that maternal medical risks and
studies that have found that genetic factors play a role as- behavioral risks affect children’s language development and
sert that the shared environment of parents and children academic abilities (Anthopolos, Edwards, & Miranda, 2013;
can also influence language development (Dale, Tosto, Cho, Frijters, Zhang, Miller, & Gruen, 2013; Delgado, Vagi,
Hayiou-Thomas, & Plomin, 2015). & Scott, 2005; Goldschmidt, Richardson, Cornelius, & Day,
Nonetheless, research has consistently shown that 2004; Mensah & Kiernan, 2011). However, the effect of these
children from low-SES homes leave preschool with vocabu- risks may be accounted for by SES status (Batsrta, Hadders-
lary, reading, and math abilities that are below those of Algra, & Neeleman, 2003; Ellingson, Goodnight, Van Hulle,
their peers from middle-SES homes (Aikens, Kopack Klein, Waldman, & D’Onofrio, 2014; Gilman, Gardener, & Buka,
Tarullo, & West, 2013; Jordan & Levine, 2009). Likewise, 2008).
the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has
documented that children of low SES score lower than Family Health and History
children of middle SES on reading and math assessments Characteristics of the family, such as maternal physical
throughout their educational careers (NCES, 2014). and mental health and family history of mental and learning
610 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
at 24 months) and to determine whether being a late talker rounded to the nearest 50 per ECLS-B confidentiality require-
had a negative effect on children’s school readiness. We ments.) For the 48-month analyses, children with missing data
used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, on the outcome of interest—receptive vocabulary—were ex-
Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a large nationally representative cluded, yielding a sample size of 5,450. At 60 months, the
sample, to address gaps in the existing literature. The use analyses included 4,200 children with data on the reading and
of this large national database permitted us to examine the math assessments. The final set of analyses included 3,000
unique role of a large number of possible factors in late children with kindergarten teacher reports of approaches
talking and children’s later school readiness and to do so to learning and externalizing and internalizing behaviors at
with data permitting generalizations to the general popula- 60 months. Missing data on independent variables in each
tion. Three questions were addressed: of the multivariate analyses were imputed using multiple
imputation procedures in SAS Version 9.3 (SAS Institute,
1. What are the risk factors for being a late talker at
Cary, NC).
24 months of age?
2. Do late talkers continue to have low vocabulary at
48 months of age? Procedure
3. Does being a late talker at 24 months of age play a ECLS-B staff conducted in-person assessments of
unique role in children’s school readiness, as defined children’s cognitive and behavioral functioning when the
by reading, math, and behavioral functioning at children were 9, 24, and 48 months of age. Interviews with
60 months of age? the children’s mothers were also conducted at these time
points. Children’s behavior was rated at 60 months of age
by their kindergarten teachers.
Method It is well known that, on average, girls’ vocabulary
and reading performance develops more rapidly than that
Data and Analytic Sample of boys. It is also known that girls tend to exhibit fewer
Data for this study came from the ECLS-B con- behavior problems than boys. As a result, it is common to
ducted by NCES. The ECLS-B began in 2001 with a use gender-specific norms when deciding whether a child
population-representative cohort of infants selected from has either a vocabulary or a behavior problem. In order
U.S. birth certificate files. The cohort included oversamples to test the robustness of our findings to the use of gender-
of Asian and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Alaska specific norms, we have reported all our analyses in two
Natives, infants born at moderately low (1,500–2,500 g) forms. In one of these, late talkers at 24 months, low
and very low (< 1,500 g) birth weight, and multiple births. vocabulary at 48 months, low reading performance at
More information about the ECLS-B is available at http:// 60 months, and behavior problems at 24 and/or 60 months
nces.ed.gov/ECLS/birth. Sampling weights provided in were defined (separately for boys and girls) as the members
the data set permit population-based estimates. of each group falling into the lowest performing 10% of
This study focuses on children who were either late the students. We refer to these as gender-specific norms (cut-
talkers or not and who had otherwise typical development offs). As an alternative, for each of these variables, we used
at 24 months of age. We classified children as being late the lowest performing 10% of the full sample (boys and
talkers if their expressive vocabulary scores fell within the girls combined) as the cutoff. We refer to these as overall
lowest 10% of the sample score distribution as measured sample norms (cutoffs). Our principal substantive findings
by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory were unaffected by which definitions were used in the
(M-CDI; Fenson et al., 1993). This classification is consis- analyses.
tent with previous studies of late talkers (Dale et al., 2010;
Dollaghan, 2013; Fenson et al., 1994; Weismer, 2006).
Children with missing M-CDI data were excluded Independent Variables
from the sample, as were those who were younger than Sociodemographic Characteristics
22 months or older than 26 months at the time of assess- Data were analyzed from maternal interviews and
ment. Because we were interested in examining outcomes birth certificate files regarding race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic
of children who were otherwise typically developing, those White, non-Hispanic African American, Hispanic, other
with very low birth weight or congenital anomalies were race/ethnicity), child age, gender, maternal marital status,
omitted from the sample. Also, children were omitted if and SES at the 24-month assessment. An SES index was
their parents answered that a language other than English calculated by ECLS-B staff using a composite of father’s
was the primary language in the home when responding to and mother’s education, father’s and mother’s occupation,
the question “What is the primary language spoken in your and household income. In cases in which only one parent
home?” This is due to potential differences between the was in the household, the SES index was computed using
English language development of monolingual and bilin- the information that was available on that parent. For
gual children. this study, the SES index scores were divided into quintiles
After these exclusions, the analytic sample at 24 months and represented in multivariate analyses as a set of four
included 6,050 children. (Note that all sample sizes are dummy variables.
Parenting
Parenting quality was indexed by the average of scores Outcome Variables
on two parenting assessments administered at 24 months. Late Talker at 24 Months
The first was a modified version of the Home Observation Children’s vocabulary was assessed during interviews
for Measurement of the Environment (Caldwell & Bradley, with the children’s mothers at 24 months of age using a
1984). This assessment measured activities done with modified version of the M-CDI that was developed by
612 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
Dale and Marchman for use in the ECLS-B. Mothers rated the frequency of each behavior on a 5-point scale
were asked whether their children could say each of from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). On the basis of the 22 be-
50 words and phrases commonly known and spoken at haviors from these assessments, we conducted an explor-
24 months, such as mommy, meow, thank you, and all gone. atory factor analysis using a promax rotation, retaining a
The numbers of words reported were summed to create a four-factor solution after examining several potential factor
total word score. The M-CDI vocabulary assessment has solutions and considering a priori criteria (Tabachnick &
high internal consistency (α = .96), and this assessment has Fidell, 2007). Items that reduced internal consistency and
been found to classify children into language status groups had factor loadings of .60 or lower were removed. We iden-
with 97% accuracy (Skarakis-Doyle, Campbell, & Dempsey, tified items in three of the four factors as relevant to the
2009). In this study, using the total sample, children whose present study. The first scale described approaches to learn-
scores were in the lowest 10% of the sample score distribu- ing (α = .91), which included five items: shows eagerness
tion (i.e., ≤13 words) were considered to be late talkers. We to learn, pays attention well, works/plays independently,
used both gender-specific and overall-sample 10% cutoffs keeps working until finished, and has difficulty concentrat-
in the analyses. For boys the 10% cutoff was 10 words, and ing. The second scale captured externalizing behavior
for girls the cutoff was 17 words. The overall-sample cutoff problems (α = .87), including disrupts others, has temper
was 13 words. tantrums, is physically aggressive, and annoys other chil-
dren. The third scale identified internalizing behavior prob-
Vocabulary at 48 Months lems (α = .64), which included seems unhappy, worries
Children’s vocabulary at 48 months was assessed about things, and acts shy. Items in each of these scales
with a modified version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary were summed to obtain scale scores.
Test (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 1997). The PPVT is widely Children scoring in the bottom 10% of the distribu-
used and has high reliability values (i.e., .92–.93). Consistent tion for approaches to learning were identified as having
with prior studies (e.g., Webster, Majnemer, Platt, & Shevell, approaches to learning problems. Those scoring in the top
2004), we identified children scoring in the bottom 10% of 10% of the distributions for externalizing and internalizing
the overall PPVT score distribution at 48 months as having behaviors were considered to exhibit externalizing and in-
low vocabulary. As with the late talker variable, we also ternalizing behavior problems, respectively. As with other
found separate 10% cutoffs for each gender and coded variables, these cutoffs were computed both for the total
the low vocabulary at 48 months separately depending sample and for each gender separately, and both sets of
on the child’s gender. Both sets of analyses are reported analyses were reported.
in the tables.
614 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
Table 2. Odds ratios of being a late talker at 24 months (N = 6,050a).
Note. Child age and parenting score are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
as late talker, so the direction of causality cannot be deter- late talkers were found to have a low receptive vocabulary
mined. However, it is still useful to see that these variables 2 years later. Eighty-three percent of the sample did not
were significantly related even with many other variables have vocabulary difficulties at 24 or 48 months; however,
controlled. 8% of these children had a vocabulary problem at 48 months.
The final three columns of Table 2 show the results Of those who were late talkers at 24 months, one fourth
using a sample-wide (rather than gender-specific) cutoff continued to have a vocabulary problem at 48 months. This
for defining being a late talker at 24 months. As expected, accounted for 2.6% of the total sample.
using a sample-wide cutoff showed boys as being much
more likely than girls (an odds ratio of about 3 to 1) to be
late talkers. The other findings using the gender-specific Role of Being a Late Talker at 24 Months on
cutoffs were generally robust to the use of a single sample- Vocabulary at 48 Months
wide cutoff. Once again, we found strong SES effects Table 3 shows the results of the logistic regressions
that were largely mediated by control variables such as predicting low vocabulary at 48 months. The first three
parenting quality, child care, and the child’s approaches to models used gender-specific cutoffs for 24-month late talker,
learning (attention). 48-month low vocabulary, and 24-month child behavior
problems, whereas the final three models used sample-wide
cutoffs. Model 1 included the following as predictors: being
Persistence of Vocabulary Problems at 48 Months a late talker, race/ethnicity, the child’s age at assessment,
Using sample-wide cutoffs, we also investigated the gender, a Gender × Age interaction, and the SES quintiles.
extent to which late talkers continued to have vocabulary Being a late talker at 24 months was a strong predictor of
problems and the extent to which children who were not low vocabulary at 48 months, increasing the odds of this
Note. Child age and parenting scores are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
outcome by a factor of 4.3 in Model 1. Being Hispanic behavior problems at 60 months. These models included be-
(1.67:1) and low or middle SES compared with high SES ing a late talker at 24 months, low vocabulary at 48 months,
also significantly increased these odds (i.e., the lower three the interaction between these variables as predictors, and
quintiles had odds ratios of 5.02:1, 2.99:1, and 1.85:1). behavioral functioning at 24 months and were estimated
Additional demographics were included in Model 2, using both gender-specific and sample-wide cutoffs for late
but none were significant. Model 3 added gestational and talker and low vocabulary.
birth conditions, family, child care, and child behavior
problems. Significant predictors were parenting, child care, Low Reading Performance
and approaches to learning problems, and these partially Table 4 displays the results for low reading perfor-
explained the SES effects. The final three models used sam- mance at 60 months. As before, similar patterns were ob-
ple-wide rather than gender-specific cutoffs. These results served for both gender-specific and sample-wide cutoffs for
showed the same patterns as were found with gender- late talker and 48-month vocabulary. It is not surprising
specific cutoffs. In particular, the very strong effect of SES that low vocabulary at 48 months strongly increased the
on low vocabulary continued to be observed. odds of low reading performance at 60 months. However,
even with this variable controlled, being a late talker also
increased the odds of low reading at 60 months. This was
Role of Being a Late Talker at 24 Months on
significant at the .05 level using the overall cutoffs and at
School Readiness the .10 level using gender-specific cutoffs. In addition, even
Tables 4–7 present the results of logistic regressions with these controls, low SES had exceptionally powerful
predicting low reading and math performance and high effects on low reading, with odds ratios of low vocabulary
616 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
Table 4. Odds ratios of low reading performance at 60 months (n = 4,200a).
Note. Child age and parenting scores are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
in the range of 7:1 when comparing the lowest and highest lowest SES quintile and almost 8 to 1 for the second-lowest
SES quintiles. Other noteworthy findings included the posi- quintile. In Model 3, quality parenting and 48-month
tive effect on low reading of having a family member with center-based child care or Head Start for more than 10 hr/
a learning disability as well as the strong effects of child week resulted in decreased odds of low math performance.
care more than 10 hr/week in decreasing the odds of low Having a family member with learning disabilities increased
reading at kindergarten entry. the odds by 1.65:1. These variables also partially accounted
for the negative effect of low SES on the outcomes. The re-
Low Math Performance sults using sample-wide cutoffs showed very similar patterns.
Table 5 includes the calculations for low math perfor-
mance at 60 months; results generally are similar to those Problem Behavior
for low reading. The effect of being a late talker (2.20:1) Table 6 shows calculations for the odds of teacher-
was significantly and positively related to low math scores, reported behavior problems—approaches to learning and
as was low receptive vocabulary (3.51:1). The interaction externalizing and internalizing problems—at 60 months.
between these variables was not significant. African Model 2 for approaches to learning problems showed that,
American children were at increased odds for low math even after extensive controls, being a late talker signifi-
scores (1.52:1). cantly increased a child’s odds (2.19:1) for difficulties in
The effect of the lowest SES quintile was even larger this area. In addition, in Model 1, low SES increased a
than for low reading, with odds of almost 15 to 1 for the child’s odds of having approaches to learning problems,
Note. Child age and parenting scores are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
618 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
Table 6. Odds ratios of teacher-reported behavior problems at 60 months (n = 3,000a) using gender-specific cutoffs.
Note. Child age and parenting scores are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
enable us to control for possible confounding factors to population-based investigations that addressed this issue
determine whether late talking has a unique effect on chil- (Bleses & Vach, 2013; Dale et al., 2010; Reilly et al., 2007;
dren’s school readiness in the U.S. population as a whole. Westerlund & Lagerberg, 2008) as well as other studies of
early language development (e.g., Harrison & McLeod,
2010; Maatta et al., 2012).
Risk Factors for Being a Late Talker Also, difficulties with approaches to learning at
We found that a number of sociodemographic, birth, 24 months (i.e., having difficulties paying attention, work-
and family variables were significantly related to being a ing independently, concentrating, and completing tasks)
late talker at 24 months of age. As expected, boys were sig- were associated with late talker status. This result is consis-
nificantly more likely than girls to be a late talker. Remov- tent with that of Henrichs et al. (2013). Because ratings of
ing this effect by using gender-specific norms, we found children’s behavior and the M-CDI were both completed
that low SES strongly increased the odds of being a late when the children were 24 months of age, the direction of
talker—an effect largely explained by low birth weight, the the relationship is unclear. It could be that having prob-
quality of parenting, time in day care, and the child’s ap- lems with approaches to learning is a risk factor for being
proaches to learning (attention) problems. The finding that a late talker, or it could be that this difficulty is the result
boys are at greater risk than girls of being a late talker and of low language abilities at an early age. Whichever the di-
in early language development is consistent with several rection of causality, and other things being equal, problems
Note. Child age and parenting scores are standardized with a mean of 0 and an SD of 1. SES = socioeconomic status.
a
Sample size is rounded to the nearest 50 per Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort confidentiality requirements.
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Weighted regressions.
with approaches to learning are positively associated with shared environment of parents and children influences
being a late talker. As noted earlier, co-occurrence of atten- children’s language development (Dale et al., 2015). Warm
tional difficulties and SLI have been observed, but the na- and nurturing parents create stimulating environments and
ture of the relationship remains unclear (Redmond, 2016). provide supports by establishing routines. This, in turn, re-
Of note is that the strong relation between SES and sults in higher cognitive and language abilities (cf. Conger &
being a late talker was fully explained by the mediating Donnellan, 2007; Guo & Harris, 2000; Yeung et al., 2002).
variables. The effect of SES on late talking was inconsis- Also, these results are supported by past studies that have
tent in the four prior population-based studies that were shown that center-based child care promotes children’s out-
reviewed. Our study helps clarify the relationship because comes in many areas and that child care appears to minimize
the investigation targeted a large number of possible ex- the effects of stress experienced by low-income parents (Hall
planatory variables in the statistical analyses. We found et al., 2009; NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,
that the effects of SES were accounted for by a number of 2000, 2002, 2003; Melhuish et al., 2008; Vallotton et al.,
variables, including quality parenting and children’s atten- 2012; Vandell et al., 2010). However, attendance in child
dance in a day care center. These findings are consistent care has also been found to increase children’s risk for be-
with a large number of studies that have found that quality havior problems (NICHD Early Child Care Research Net-
parenting supports children’s development and that the work, 2003).
620 Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 60 • 607–626 • March 2017
Vocabulary Status at 48 Months quintile. Even children in the middle-SES and second highest
quintiles were at increased risk for these outcomes. These
We also investigated whether children who were
important findings demonstrate that the effects of SES are
late talkers at 24 months continue to have low vocabulary
profound and increasing as children age from birth to school
scores at 48 months. We found that one fourth of later
entry (Hillemeier, Farkas, Morgan, Martin, & Maczuga,
talkers continued to have low vocabulary scores (defined
2009; Rescorla, 2013).
as the lowest 10%) during preschool. This is consistent with
previous studies that have shown that not all late talkers
continue to have low language abilities (Dale & Hayiou- Limitations
Thomas, 2013; Rescorla, 2009; Rice et al., 2008). How-
There are at least three limitations to this study. The
ever, we also found that even after entering a large number
first is that direct observations of the children’s vocabulary
of controls, being a late talker at 24 months of age had a
at 24 months were not made. Instead, an abbreviated
significant effect on later vocabulary. Late talkers were
version of the M-CDI, a parent report measure, was used.
three times more likely to have low vocabulary scores at
However, the M-CDI and its short form have been used
48 months. It should be pointed out, however, that SES
extensively in research and clinically (cf. Bleses & Vach,
had the largest effect on children’s vocabulary scores even
2013; Moyle, Ellis Weismer, Lindstrom, & Evans, 2007;
after controlling for a large number of variables, including
Thal, Miller, Carlson, & Vega, 2005). Through its usage,
parenting quality and center-based child care and/or Head
parents have been found to be reliable reporters of young
Start services. As suggested by Rescorla and Dale (2013),
children’s vocabulary. Further, any measurement error in
SES may not show a direct effect on late talking once
our vocabulary measure simply indicates that our results
other variables are controlled, but its association with the
are conservative; a more reliable measure would have pro-
child’s language performance increases as children progress
duced even larger associations. Second, children’s receptive
through the preschool years and enter kindergarten.
and expressive vocabularies were not both measured at
each of the data collection waves. However, strong correla-
tions between children’s receptive and expressive vocabu-
Role of Late Talking in School Readiness
laries have been reported in the literature. For example,
at 60 Months Sideridis and Simos (2010) found a significant correlation
Our study also investigated whether late talking played of .66 between receptive and expressive vocabularies. In
a unique role in children’s school readiness at 60 months addition, Tomblin and Zhang (2006) did not find evidence
of age, a question that has received relatively little atten- for a receptive–expressive dichotomy and argued that sepa-
tion. We found that late talking increased the odds of low rate measures of these variables are not warranted. Third,
reading scores, low math scores, and both approaches to in light of the large size of the sample, the ECLS-B did
learning and externalizing behavior problems. Overall, these not conduct specific observations of parent–child and care-
findings show that being a late talker places children at risk giver–child interactions in homes and child care centers.
for reduced school readiness and are supported by existing Thus, we are unable to discuss the quantity and quality of
research that has demonstrated the important relationships language that the children experienced in these two set-
between children’s language abilities and their reading, tings. Such studies are desirable because they would help
math, and behavioral functioning (e.g., Braze et al., 2007; us better understand the language development of children
Cole et al., 2010; Purpura et al., 2011; Redmond, 2016; from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures.
Verhoeven & Van Leeuwe, 2008).
It should be noted that low vocabulary at 48 months
played a larger role in children’s school readiness than late Implications
talker status. Having a low vocabulary prior to school This study has several key implications. First, the
entry, independent of late talker status at 24 months, more study demonstrates the high value of using publically avail-
than tripled the odds of low reading in kindergarten and able population-based data sets to address key questions.
math scores in kindergarten. This finding illustrates the Such data sets permit researchers to investigate questions
critical importance of vocabulary in school readiness. In that they could never answer on their own. This is because
particular, being a late talker at 24 months is itself a strong individual researchers and single research groups do not
predictor of low vocabulary at 48 months. have access to resources that allow them to recruit a large
However, the most significant finding is the very large representative sample and gather data on a large number of
effect that SES had on children’s school readiness, even independent and dependent variables (Justice, Breit-Smith,
after controlling for a large number of variables. Children & Rogers, 2010). Examples of existing data sets include
from families in the lowest SES quintile were about seven but are not limited to the ECLS-B (which was used in this
times more likely to have low reading scores, nearly 15 times study), the Early Children Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten
more likely to have low math scores, almost four times Cohort, the NICHD Study of Early Child Care/NICHD
more likely to have difficulties with approaches to learn- Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, Head
ing, and almost three times more likely to have externaliz- Start Family and Child Experiences Study, and the National
ing problems compared with children in the highest SES Household Education Survey. In addition, a number of
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