Relationship between enunciative signs of language acquisition and language assessment through the Bayley III scale at 24 months.
Luciéle Dias Oliveira, Anaelena Bragança de Moraes, Sabrina Felin Nunes and 2 others
PMID 37194767WHAT IT FOUND
In 45 infants, a higher score on a mother-child interaction screening tool strongly correlated with better language outcomes at two years.
Infants with language delays averaged 12 signs versus 18 in typically developing peers, suggesting this tool may help identify children needing further assessment.
Key findings
01Total scores on the Enunciative Signs of Language Acquisition (ESLA) tool showed a strong positive correlation with Bayley III language scores at 24 months.
02Infants with language delay averaged 12 ESLA signs compared to 18 for those without delay, with specific child and maternal signs differing significantly between groups.
03Among infants identified with delay by the Bayley III, four did not show risk on the ESLA, indicating the screening tool may miss some cases of language impairment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
High attrition rate: Only 45 of the initial 101 infants completed the final Bayley III assessment, which may introduce bias if the families who dropped out differed systematically from those who remained. Small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings and the ability to establish precise age-based criteria for the ESLA tool. The ESLA is not a diagnostic instrument; four children with language delay on the Bayley III were not identified as at-risk by the ESLA, indicating potential false negatives. The study was conducted in a specific cultural and healthcare context (Brazil), which may affect the applicability of the interaction norms and signs to other populations.
Declared interests
The research received a productivity grant from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the last author. No commercial conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the ESLA as a diagnostic tool to rule out language delay. Four of the 20 children with confirmed delay on the Bayley III did not show risk signs on the ESLA, meaning a low or normal ESLA score does not guarantee typical language development.