Parent-Reported Behavioral Problems and Language Delays in Boys and Girls Enrolled in Head Start Classrooms

Abstract

Early emergent patterns of behavioral problems, social skill deficits, and language delays were examined in 259 three-year-old children enrolled in Head Start classrooms. The Child Behavior Checklist for Children Ages 2 to 3 (CBCL/2–3) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS, Pre-School Version) were completed by the children's primary caregivers. Language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale (PLS)-3 and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)-III. Findings indicated that this population is at elevated risk for behavioral and language problems. Approximately 25% of both boys and girls showed clinical/subclinical levels of internalizing problem behavior on the CBCL. More than 20% of boys scored in the clinical range for externalizing problems. Children with behavioral problems were more likely to have low language scores than were their peers without behavioral problems. Nearly half of the children scored in the category “lower than average” for social skills on the SSRS. Children with low social skills were more likely to have low language scores than were their peers with average social skills. The need to screen for early emergent behavioral problems, the potential contribution of poor language skills to children's problem behavior, and implications for early intervention are discussed.

Dialogic Reading's Potential to Improve Children's Emergent Literacy Skills and Behavior

“…For example, Kaiser, Hancock, Cai, Foster, and Hester (2000) found that boys scoring high on a measure of problem behavior were about 50% more likely to have low language scores than boys with low behavior scores. Qi and Kaiser (2004) reported a correlation of -.32 between Head Start children's scores on a teacher rating of the frequency of their internalizing problem behaviors and a measure of their expressive language skills.…”

Interrelationships Among Language Skills, Externalizing Behavior, and Academic Fluency and Their Impact on the Academic Skills of Students With ED

“…Language difficulties and ED appear to emerge from the same etiological and environmental risk factors (e.g., Kaiser, Hancock, Cai, Foster, & Hester, 2000;Kaiser & Hester, 1997) and are likely to co-occur (Benner et al, 2002). Furthermore, research suggests that externalizing behaviors are related to language skills whereas internalizing behaviors are not (Nelson et al, 2005).…”

Incidence of Behavior Problems in Toddlers and Preschool Children from Families Living in Poverty

“…Feil, Walker, Severson, and Ball (2000) surveyed 954 parents of children (3-4 years old) enrolled in Head Start and found 52% of the children met criteria for referral to mental health services for behavior and emotional problems. Other studies have reported a range of 20-33% for behavior problems in young children from lower SES backgrounds (Gross, Sambrook, & Fogg, 1999;Kaiser, Hancock, Cai, Foster, & Hester, 2000). Most available studies that have included poverty as a contextual variable in the development and maintenance of behavior problems in young children have tended to examine children in special programs such as Head Start or in clinicreferred samples.…”