The impact on socio-emotional development and quality of life of language impairment in 8-year-old children

Abstract

AIM To estimate the impact of different types of language disorders on socio-emotional development and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in 8-year-old children.METHOD In a prospective cohort including 13 427 newborns, of 10 911 eligible children (66 excluded because of intellectual disability or foreign language, 2448 lost to follow-up due to house moves, refusal, death or other reasons) written consent was obtained from the parents of 6051 then 8-year-old children (55%). Questionnaires, completed by the parents of 4745 children (2323 males, 2412 females) and the teachers of 4771 children (2360 males, 2411 females), included validated measures to define type of language disorder and to assess socio-emotional development and HRQOL. RESULTSIn 377 (8.2%) children, speech ⁄ language disorders were identified. Children with receptive language disorders had more unfavourable scores for extraversion (9.7, 99% CI 9.3-10.1, p=0.006), school attitude (7.8, 99% CI 7.4-8.2; p<0.001), agreeableness (9.1, 99% CI 8.6-9.6, p<0.001; normal ranges 7-13), and quality of life (49.6, 99% CI 48.8-51.0, p<0.001; normal range 40-60), as compared to children without these disorders. Pragmatic disorders and suspected autism were associated with the most unfavourable scores, for school attitude 8.1 (99% CI 6.9-9.3, p<0.001) and 7.5 (99% CI 6.1-8.9, p=0.002), and for quality of life 42.9 (99% CI 40.3-45.5, p<0.001) and 36.2 (99% CI 30.0-42.4, p<0.001).

Behavior problems and social competence in Brazilian children with specific language impairment

“…Similarly, Van Agt et al (2011) have found that both receptive and expressive language deficits were closely associated with attention problems, aggressiveness and worse quality of life in SLI.…”

“…Other studies of children with SLI, on the other hand, did find that language competence was generally a good predictor of behavior, particularly when aspects such as grammar, semantics and pragmatics were taken into account (van Daal et al 2007). Similarly, Van Agt et al (2011) have found that both receptive and expressive language deficits were closely associated with attention problems, aggressiveness and worse quality of life in SLI.…”

“…Although the diagnostic criterion for SLI excludes psychiatric disorders, there is a consistent association between language impairment and behavioral problems (St Clair et al 2011;Van Agt et al 2011;van Daal et al 2007;Yew and O'Kearney 2013;Gregl et al 2014;Mok et al 2014;Hollo et al 2014;Helland et al 2014). The causal path of this relation remains unclear, but evidence from longitudinal studies suggests the direction of effect may be from language to behavior (Petersen et al 2013).…”

“…Considering that sampling procedures (particularly the methods through which severity of language problems is defined) may somehow account for the different research findings, we decided to adopt more than one criterion for classifying the severity of language disorders. The literature in the field uses different sorts of classification criteria, such as splitting groups through the median (Hart et al 2004), identifying areas of impairment (van Daal et al 2007;Lindsay and Dockrell 2012) or combining different criteria to analyze the pervasiveness of language problems (Van Agt et al 2011). In the present study we adopted one criterion that considered the number of affected areas (comprehensive criterion) and another that combined both the number of affected areas and the size of the gap in each area (severity criterion).…”

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms, Adaptive Functioning, and Quality of Life in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Multiple studies suggest that children with ASDs have more impairment in daily living than children without ASDs, despite their age or cognitive level. For example, Van Agt et al 2 found that language impairment in schoolchildren with ASDs had a negative impact on behavior. Children with ASDs also have been found to have lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores than children with other chronic health conditions.…”