Using Eye Movements to Assess Language Comprehension in Toddlers Born Preterm and Full Term

Abstract

Objective To assess language skills in preterm and full term children using a standardized language test and eye-tracking methods. Study design Children born ≤32 weeks gestation (n = 44) were matched on sex and socioeconomic status to full term children (n = 44) and studied longitudinally. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development- Third Edition (BSID-III) were administered at 18-months (corrected for prematurity as applicable). The Looking-While-Listening (LWL) task simultaneously presents two pictures and an auditory stimulus directing the child’s attention to one image. The pattern of eye movements reflects visual processing and the efficiency of language comprehension. PT children were evaluated on LWL three times between 18 and 24 months. FT children were evaluated at ages corresponding to chronological and corrected ages of their PT match. Results were compared between groups for the BSID-III and two LWL measures: accuracy (proportion of time looking at target) and reaction time (latency to shift gaze from distracter to target). Results PT children had lower BSID-III scores than FT children. PT children had poorer performance than FT children on LWL measures for chronological age but similar performance for corrected age. Accuracy and reaction time at 18 months corrected age displaced PT-FT group membership as significant predictors of BSID-III scores. Conclusions Performance and rate of change on language comprehension measures were similar in PT and FT compared at corrected age. Individual variation in language comprehension efficiency was a robust predictor of scores on a standardized language assessment in both groups.

Lexical Processing of Nouns and Verbs at 36 Months of Age Predicts Concurrent and Later Vocabulary and School Readiness

“…We further found weak associations with later vocabulary and school readiness measures. Unlike Loi, Marchman, Fernald, & Feldman (2017), who examined lexical processing in 18-month-olds born pre-term, we did not find that lexical processing was predictive of outcomes when concurrent vocabulary was also included in the model. We suggest that this is because by 36 months of age, lexical processing abilities have largely played their role in helping children to learn new word meanings and no longer have as strong a predictive ability.…”

Off to a good start: Early Spanish‐language processing efficiency supports Spanish‐ and English‐language outcomes at 4½ years in sequential bilinguals

“…Why are some children faster in processing spoken language than others? Variation in real‐time language processing skill is likely to be related to individual differences in a host of neurodevelopmental factors, for example, premature birth, that shape trajectories of learning (Loi et al., 2017). This variation might also be the result of genetic factors which contribute to more efficient learning (Tucker‐Drob & Harden, 2012).…”

“…Estimates of children's accumulated vocabulary knowledge, that is, vocabulary size, are often derived from parent report checklists, such as the English‐language MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Development Inventories (Fenson et al., 2007) and its Spanish‐language adaptation (Jackson‐Maldonado et al., 2003). While parent reports of vocabulary size are widely used and predictive of later outcomes (Morgan et al., 2015), they capture estimates of the products of learning, and thereby, may only indirectly index the dynamic mechanisms involved in the process of early learning (Loi, Marchman, Fernald, & Feldman, 2017). Measures of online language comprehension, in contrast, capture children's proficiency in processing the incoming speech signal and linking speech to referents in the world around them in real time.…”

Predicting text reading skills at age 8 years in children born preterm and at term

“…These findings suggested that reading decrements in children born preterm represented a component of global deficits. An explanation for this distinctive pattern of prediction is that reading difficulties in children born preterm represent the cumulative effect of many neuropsychological factors, including early brain abnormalities [46] and multiple neuropsychological weaknesses, such as slow speed of processing [47], weak verbal working memory [48], deficits in oral language [9,10], and decreased intelligence [16].…”