Is language as poor as it looks?

Vocabulary and language tests show that preschool children from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds have a disproportionate risk of language delay. What the tests do not show, is whether language delay is due to limitations of the child’s language environment, or to intrinsic language-learning difficulties.

Dr Penny Roy’s study aims to differentiate language disadvantage from language disorder using measures that have been shown to be largely independent of socioeconomic effects.

The ability to accurately identify the source of low language performance will enable more effective interventions to be developed.