[Screening by teachers for language and behavior difficulties in 2059 children aged 3,5 years].
BACKGROUND
Several tools have been proposed for screening for specific language impairment and behavioral problems in pre-school children. These disorders are risk factors for later poor school achievement and social life. However, presence of real disorders must be differentiated from environmental factors, such as low educational level of the parents or bilingual family.


METHODS
A 29-item teachers'questionnaire was used for screening for language and behavioral disorders in 2059 nursery-school children aged 3.5 years from 200 nursery-schools of different areas in France.


RESULTS
According to the teachers, difficulties were clearly more frequent in boys than girls, in children from low educational level families, and in children with not-french-speaking parents.


CONCLUSIONS
The gender of the child and the characteristics of the family play a very important role in the teachers'assessment of a young pre-school child's language and behavior. Longitudinal studies would be required to differentiate the presence of specific disorders, requiring individual intervention, from simple delays due to environmental factors.
Chevrie-Muller
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CNRS UMR 8606, Laboratoire d'Etudes sur l'Acquisition et la Pathologie du Langage, 7, rue Guy-Môquet, 94801 Villejuif Cedex. claude.chevrie@9online.fr
Watier
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Arabia
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Arabia
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Dellatolas
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D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires