Association analysis between child development risks and children early speech production between 13 and 16 months

PURPOSE:   to investigate the association between the presence of child development risk and children early speech production between 13 to 16 months of age, and the predictive value of child development risk inventory for language initial acquisition.

METHODS:   the sample consisted of 52 mother-child dyads, followed by a cut study from 0 to 18 months, and of the assessment of children's lexical production between 13 and 16 months of age through spontaneous memories of the mothers and the observation of child behavior. Data were organized in categories and analyzed through the STATISTICA 9.0 software.

RESULTS:   the initial acquisition of language, measured by the number of words spoken by the baby, differs significantly in the presence of risks to development in the first phase (0-4 months of age) and considering babies who were at risk in any of the four phases (0-18 months of age), whereas babies at risk have a production number of words statistically lower compared to those without risk.

CONCLUSION:   through data analysis, the research demonstrated a statistical association between child development risks and language acquisition. The higher the risks, the less speech production.

Infant Care; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Risk Factors; Language; Child Development