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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
From the first smile to the first word, signs that a toddler is learning to communicate are a source of great joy for any new parent.
A new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has come up with new tests for pre-schoolers to help recognise potential problems earlier.
According to Professor Shula Chiat and Dr Penny Roy of City University in London, these tests provide new indicators of the likelihood and nature of longer term difficulties, allowing for earlier and more targeted intervention.
Many 2-3 year olds will catch up with their peers within a year or two, but others don't, and the nature of their longer term language and communication problems will vary".
Unlike traditional assessments which focus on language itself, the four new tests probe 'very early processing skills' (VEPS) which are known to underpin language development.
The remaining three tests target the kind of social and cognitive skills children require to discover the meaning of words.
The different patterns of performance which emerged from a sample of over 200 clinically referred children were related to the type of language and social communication problems evident 18 months later, when children were 4-5 years old.
Researchers also validated the contribution of standard clinical assessment for children as young as 2-3, but the new tests provided important additional information about a child's basic processing skills.
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Posted on March 6, 2007 12:29 AM
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