Early language competence, but not general cognitive ability, predicts children’s recognition of emotion from facial and vocal cues

The ability to accurately identify and label emotions in the self and others is crucial for successful social interactions and good mental health. In the current study we tested the longitudinal relationship between early language skills and recognition of facial and vocal emotion cues in a representative UK population cohort with diverse language and cognitive skills ( N  = 369), including a large sample of children that met criteria for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD, N  = 97). Language skills, but not non-verbal cognitive ability, at age 5–6 predicted emotion recognition at age 10–12. Children that met the criteria for DLD showed a large deficit in recognition of facial and vocal emotion cues. The results highlight the importance of language in supporting identification of emotions from non-verbal cues. Impairments in emotion identification may be one mechanism by which language disorder in early childhood predisposes children to later adverse social and mental health outcomes

Early Risk Factors and Emotional Difficulties in Children at Risk of Developmental Language Disorder: A Population Cohort Study.

Purpose This study evaluated the pathways between developmental language disorder (DLD), psychosocial risk factors, and the development of emotional difficulties from ages 3 to 11 years within the Millennium Cohort Study. Method A total of 14,494 singletons (49.4% female) from the Millennium Cohort Study were evaluated within this study. Risk of DLD (rDLD) was defined as age 5 parent-reported language problems and/or -1.5 SDs on a Naming Vocabulary subtest at the age of 5 years. Children without rDLD formed the general population comparison group. Psychosocial risk factors included 9-month temperamental traits, parental psychological distress, and maternal attachment as well as age 3 emotional regulation abilities, parent-child relationship, and peer problems. The parent report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Emotional Difficulty subscale at 3, 5, 7, and 11 years of age was the outcome variable. The trajectory of emotional difficulties was evaluated within a variable-centered approach and a person-centered approach, using growth mixture modeling. Results Children with rDLD (n = 884) had increased levels of emotional problems when compared to the general population group (n = 13,344). Psychosocial risk factors were increased in children with rDLD, fully mediated the increased emotional difficulties at 3 years, and partially mediated the increased emotional difficulties at 11 years. Children with rDLD were more likely to be included in emotional trajectory subgroups with an increasing pattern of emotional problems. rDLD was an additional risk factor for lower levels of emotional self-regulation and increased peer problems when controlling for the emotional difficulties trajectory subgroup. Conclusion This article indicates that the increased emotional difficulties found in children with rDLD are likely a function of early language difficulties influencing other domains of development, specifically social interactions (parent and peer) and emotional self-regulation abilities. Clinically, this reiterates the importance of early identification and treatment of children with language delays or clinical level language disorders. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8323598

Infant night sleep trajectory from age 3–24 months: evidence from the Singapore GUSTO study

10.1016/j.sleep.2017.01.013Sleep Medicine3382-84GUSTO (Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes

Caregiving adversity during infancy and preschool cognitive function: Adaptations to context?

10.1017/S2040174420001348Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease1-1

Analysis of Item-Level Bias in the Bayley-III Language Subscales: The Validity and Utility of Standardized Language Assessment in a Multilingual Setting

10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-16-0196Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research6092663-2671GUSTO (Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes