Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme discrimination, speech segmentation, and speed of lexical access predict later childhood language outcomes. To date, no studies have examined the long-term predictive validity of novel word learning. We examined whether individual differences in novel…

Several aspects of early language skills, including parent-report measures of vocabulary, phoneme discrimination, speech segmentation, and speed of lexical access predict later childhood language outcomes. To date, no studies have examined the long-term predictive validity of novel word learning. We examined whether individual differences in novel…

Early identification of primary language delay is crucial to implement effective prevention programs. Available screening instruments are based on parents' reports and have only insufficient predictive validity. This study employed observational measures of preverbal infants' gestural communication to test its predictive validity for identifying…

Infants begin to segment novel words from speech by 7.5 months, demonstrating an ability to track, encode and retrieve words in the context of larger units. Although it is presumed that word recognition at this stage is a prerequisite to constructing a vocabulary, the continuity between these stages of development has not yet been empirically…

Until recently, the challenges inherent in measuring comprehension have impeded our ability to predict the course of language acquisition. The present research reports on a longitudinal assessment of the convergent and predictive validity of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Gestures (CDI: WG; Fenson et al.,…

The parental report instrument is the most efficient developmental detection method and has shown high validity with professional assessment instruments. The reliability and validity of the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study (TBCS) 6-, 18- and 36-month scales have already been established. In this study, the reliability and validity of the 60-month scale…

Responsiveness defines the prompt, contingent, and appropriate reactions parents display to their children in the context of everyday exchanges. Maternal responsiveness occupies a theoretically central position in developmental science and possesses meaningful predictive validity over diverse domains of children's development, yet basic…

Discriminant function analyses suggested that the most efficient predictors and accurate discriminators of continuing infant risk were: the Parmelee obstetric and postnatal complications scores and the Brazelton interactive and motoric process scores at birth; the Denver rating, mother-infant interaction, and Carey temperament ratings at 4 months;…

This study investigated whether measures of habituation and dishabituation in early infancy predicted later intelligence. Results were compared with those from other comparable studies. It was argued that the psychometric acceptability of infant cognitive measures needs to be demonstrated before they can be considered to be potential predictors.…

Used Lausanne Triadic Play paradigm to examine the stability and predictive validity of cooperative, moderate, collusive, and disordered triadic family alliances during play in infancy. Triadic alliances describe families' fulfillment of functions of participation, organization, focal attention, and affective contact during play. Found that…

Statistically significant correlations of .37 and .57 were obtained between infant recognition memory scores obtained at four to seven months and later vocabulary tests of intelligence, for 54 children tested at four and for 39 children seen at seven years, respectively. Obtained values did not vary by sex. (Author/RD)

The predictive power of various cognitive skills at three months of age in terms of later cognitive functioning was examined. Visual habituation and recovery predicted later intellectual functioning at 24 months better than global intelligence or object permanence scores. Changes in cognitive functioning may be a transformation of skills.…

Children (n=36), originally tested for visual novelty preferences at age seven months and intelligence estimates at age three, were tested for intellectual functioning and for visual recognition performance at age five. Results indicate that novelty preferences were more highly related to later intelligence quotients than to later recognition…

Longitudinal observations of maternal and infant characteristics were used to investigate the consequences of early day care intervention for infants at high risk for intellectual retardation due to sociocultural factors. (JMB)

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6-, 15-, and 24-months-of-age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as six months after birth. The CIS modestly…