Early language development sets the stage for a lifetime of competence in language and literacy. However, the neural mechanisms associated with the relative advantages of early communication success, or the disadvantages of having delayed language development, are not well explored. In this study, 174 elementary school-age children whose parents reported that they started forming sentences 'early', 'on-time' or 'late' were evaluated with standardized measures of language, reading and spelling. All oral and written language measures revealed consistent patterns for 'early' talkers to have the highest level of performance and 'late' talkers to have the lowest level of performance. We report functional magnetic resonance imaging data from a subset of early, on-time and late talkers matched for age, gender and performance intelligence quotient that allows evaluation of neural activation patterns produced while listening to and reading real words and pronounceable non-words. Activation in bilateral thalamus and putamen, and left insula and superior temporal gyrus during these tasks was significantly lower in late talkers, demonstrating that residual effects of being a late talker are found not only in behavioural tests of oral and written language, but also in distributed cortical-subcortical neural circuits underlying speech and print processing. Moreover, these findings suggest that the age of functional language acquisition can have long-reaching effects on reading and language behaviour, and on the corresponding neurocircuitry that supports linguistic function into the school-age years.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139938 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awq163 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Behavioural Changes of Late Talkers During the Covid-19 Pandemic, One Year Follow-Up From a Community Sample.
J Paediatr Child Health
January 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Pediatrics, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Aim: Global threats to child health and well-being, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, have put child development at grave risk. This study aimed to observe the behavioural changes of children with isolated language delays from a paediatric outpatient clinic as a community sample during the pandemic with a 1-year follow-up.
Methods: Patients admitted to the paediatrics outpatient clinic due to isolated language delays were included in the study.
Not All Planes Have Propellers: Using Context Variability to Treat Word Learning in Late Talkers With the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers Protocol.
J Speech Lang Hear Res
January 2025
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) intervention could be efficaciously applied to a new treatment target: words a child neither understood nor said. We also assessed whether the type of context variability used to encourage semantic learning (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate Talkers' Language, Metaphor, Theory of Mind, and Reading Skills at 9 Years of Age.
J Speech Lang Hear Res
January 2025
Research Unit of Language and Communication, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, TU Dortmund University, Germany.
Purpose: Prior work has found that "late talkers" (LTs) as a group continue to demonstrate lower language and reading outcomes compared to their typically developing (TD) peers even into young adulthood. Others identified that children diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD) show difficulties later with theory of mind (ToM) tasks and metaphor comprehension, but there is a shortage of research specifically investigating these advanced skills in LTs. The current study therefore compared language-related skills of former LTs with their TD peers at school age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCaregivers' insights into supporting their late talkers using a parent program.
Int J Speech Lang Pathol
January 2025
Charles Sturt University, Australia.
Purpose: To explore caregivers' experiences and engagement during the 16-week designed to support late talkers.
Method: Qualitative interpretative description methodology was used to understand the experience of five caregivers who had completed to support their children (aged 18-36 months). Caregivers attended a focus group to share their perspectives.
Night Sleep, Parental Bedtime Practices and Language Development in Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers: A Longitudinal Study in the Third Year of Life.
Children (Basel)
November 2024
Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari", University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
: Studies on night sleep and parental bedtime practices and their associations with language development in populations at risk of language delay and neonatal conditions, such as late talkers and preterm children, are scarce. : Our objective was to longitudinally examine the development of night sleep (total night sleep difficulties, settling, night waking, and co-sleeping), parental bedtime practices (total parental bedtime practices, active physical comforting, encouraging autonomy, and leaving to cry), and expressive language (word and sentence production), and their associations in low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers from 31 to 37 months of age. : Parents of 38 late talkers, 19 low-risk preterm and 19 full-term children, completed the Italian versions of the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale, and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory Words and Sentences Long Form.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!