BACKGROUND: This research explored the relative impact of demographic, cognitive, behavioural, and psycholinguistic factors on vocabulary development in two-year-old children. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-two children (24-30 months) were tested on expressive and receptive vocabulary, cognitive development, word learning and working memory skills. Parents completed a British adaptation (Klee & Harrison, 2001) of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993), a demographic questionnaire and a questionnaire regarding the child's social-emotional behaviour. RESULTS: Several demographic, child and processing variables were significantly correlated with CDI (vocabulary) scores, but the only significant unique predictors of CDI scores were nonword repetition (NWR; R(2) change = .36), sex (R(2) change = .05) and age (R(2) change = .04). Scores were only included when a child completed the entire NWR test (77% of toddlers). CONCLUSIONS: The NWR task used in this experiment maximised participation in this group of toddlers, and was a strong predictor of vocabulary ability. Longitudinal research is warranted to explore the independent and reciprocal growth in working memory and language skills in children.
BACKGROUND: This research explored the relative impact of demographic, cognitive, behavioural, and psycholinguistic factors on vocabulary development in two-year-old children. METHODS: Two hundred and thirty-two children (24-30 months) were tested on expressive and receptive vocabulary, cognitive development, word learning and working memory skills. Parents completed a British adaptation (Klee & Harrison, 2001) of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993), a demographic questionnaire and a questionnaire regarding the child's social-emotional behaviour. RESULTS: Several demographic, child and processing variables were significantly correlated with CDI (vocabulary) scores, but the only significant unique predictors of CDI scores were nonword repetition (NWR; R(2) change = .36), sex (R(2) change = .05) and age (R(2) change = .04). Scores were only included when a child completed the entire NWR test (77% of toddlers). CONCLUSIONS: The NWR task used in this experiment maximised participation in this group of toddlers, and was a strong predictor of vocabulary ability. Longitudinal research is warranted to explore the independent and reciprocal growth in working memory and language skills in children.
Authors: Armin Raznahan; Yohan Lee; Reva Stidd; Robert Long; Dede Greenstein; Liv Clasen; Anjene Addington; Nitin Gogtay; Judith L Rapoport; Jay N Giedd Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2010-09-14 Impact factor: 11.205
Authors: Mary Alt; Cecilia R Figueroa; Heidi M Mettler; Nora Evans-Reitz; Jessie A Erikson Journal: J Speech Lang Hear Res Date: 2021-03-30 Impact factor: 2.297