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Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity

Language development in toddlerhood forms the foundation for speech and language comprehension throughout childhood. Children born moderately preterm are at increased risk for problems in receptive and expressive language functioning, and they may need specific support or interventions. To understan...

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Autores principales: Snijders, Vera E., Bogicevic, Lilly, Verhoeven, Marjolein, van Baar, Anneloes L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7663656/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33137895
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217926
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author Snijders, Vera E.
Bogicevic, Lilly
Verhoeven, Marjolein
van Baar, Anneloes L.
author_facet Snijders, Vera E.
Bogicevic, Lilly
Verhoeven, Marjolein
van Baar, Anneloes L.
author_sort Snijders, Vera E.
collection PubMed
description Language development in toddlerhood forms the foundation for speech and language comprehension throughout childhood. Children born moderately preterm are at increased risk for problems in receptive and expressive language functioning, and they may need specific support or interventions. To understand the underlying mechanisms of language development, an integrated model of gestational age, attention capacities, and maternal sensitivity was examined in relation to receptive and expressive language functioning in toddlerhood. Our sample included 221 children (gestational age between 32–41 + 6 weeks; 54.7% born moderately preterm; 51.6% boys; 69.1% highly educated mothers). At 18 months (corrected age), attention capacities were measured using an eye-tracking procedure and maternal sensitivity was observed during mother-child interaction. Language was assessed at 24 months (corrected age). Results showed children with a higher gestational age scored higher on receptive language. This association was direct, as well as indirect through the child’s alerting attention. Expressive language was related to maternal sensitivity. Gestational age and alerting attention capacities specifically were related to language comprehension, whereas maternal sensitivity was related to speech. As language comprehension and speech in toddlerhood show different associations with biological, child, contextual, and regulation factors, they should be viewed as separate constructs in research and practice.
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spelling pubmed-76636562020-11-14 Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity Snijders, Vera E. Bogicevic, Lilly Verhoeven, Marjolein van Baar, Anneloes L. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Language development in toddlerhood forms the foundation for speech and language comprehension throughout childhood. Children born moderately preterm are at increased risk for problems in receptive and expressive language functioning, and they may need specific support or interventions. To understand the underlying mechanisms of language development, an integrated model of gestational age, attention capacities, and maternal sensitivity was examined in relation to receptive and expressive language functioning in toddlerhood. Our sample included 221 children (gestational age between 32–41 + 6 weeks; 54.7% born moderately preterm; 51.6% boys; 69.1% highly educated mothers). At 18 months (corrected age), attention capacities were measured using an eye-tracking procedure and maternal sensitivity was observed during mother-child interaction. Language was assessed at 24 months (corrected age). Results showed children with a higher gestational age scored higher on receptive language. This association was direct, as well as indirect through the child’s alerting attention. Expressive language was related to maternal sensitivity. Gestational age and alerting attention capacities specifically were related to language comprehension, whereas maternal sensitivity was related to speech. As language comprehension and speech in toddlerhood show different associations with biological, child, contextual, and regulation factors, they should be viewed as separate constructs in research and practice. MDPI 2020-10-29 2020-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7663656/ /pubmed/33137895 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217926 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Snijders, Vera E.
Bogicevic, Lilly
Verhoeven, Marjolein
van Baar, Anneloes L.
Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title_full Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title_fullStr Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title_full_unstemmed Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title_short Toddlers’ Language Development: The Gradual Effect of Gestational Age, Attention Capacities, and Maternal Sensitivity
title_sort toddlers’ language development: the gradual effect of gestational age, attention capacities, and maternal sensitivity
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7663656/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33137895
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217926
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