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Continuity of Communication and Language Development (Määttä et al., 2016)
journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-23, 05:41 authored by Sira Määttä, Marja-Leena Laakso, Timo Ahonen, Asko Tolvanen, Jari Westerholm, Tuija AroPurpose: This longitudinal study examined the development
of prelinguistic skills and the continuity of communication
and language from the prelinguistic stage to school age.
Method: Prelinguistic communication of 427 Finnish
children was followed repeatedly from 6 to 18 months of
age (n = 203–322 at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months), and
its associations with language ability at ages 2;0 (n = 104),
3;0 (n = 112), 4;7 (n = 253), 5;3 (n = 102), and 7;9 (n = 236)
were examined using latent growth curve modeling.
Results: Prelinguistic development across several skills
emerged as a rather stable intraindividual characteristic during
the first 2 years of life. Continuity from prelinguistic development
to later language ability was indicated. The common level
and growth of prelinguistic skills were significant predictors
of language ability between ages 2;0 (years;months) and
7;9; the percentage explained varied between 10.5% and
53.3%. A slow pace of development across multiple skills,
in particular, led to weaker language skills.
Conclusions: The results support (a) the idea of a
developmental continuum from prelinguistic to linguistic
ability and (b) the dimensional view of language ability by
indicating that individual variations in early communication
skills show consistency that extends beyond the toddler
years. Our results also advocate developmental surveillance
of early communication by emphasizing the significance of
growth in predicting language development.
