title: Trajectories of language delay from age 3 to 5: persistence, recovery and late onset.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Knowledge is scarce on what contributes to whether children with early language delay (LD) show persistent, recovering or sometimes late-onset LD without a prior history of early LD in subsequent preschool years.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore whether an integrative model of vital risk factors, including poor early communication skills, family history of language-related difficulties and male gender, predicts the development of persistent, recovering or late-onset LD trajectories from 3 to 5 years quantitatively and qualitatively differently.
  
  
  METHODS
  LD was assessed by maternal reports on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at 3 and 5 years for 10 587 children in The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Children were classified across time as having no, late onset, transient or persistent LD. Multinomial logistic regression analyses included the integrative model of vital risk factors and covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across time, 3%, 5% and 6.5% of the children displayed persistent, transient and late-onset LD, respectively. The odds for persistent LD were doubled for boys and children with low language comprehension at 1.5 years; and tripled by late-talking familial risk. These same odds decreased for transient LD, and even further for late-onset LD. Familial risk for writing and reading difficulties especially increased the odds for late-onset and persistent LD, while familial risk of unintelligible speech increased the odds for transient LD. Although girls had on average far better language comprehension than boys, low language comprehension was a stronger risk factor for persistent LD in girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preschool LD trajectories were uniquely predicted from the integrative risk model of poor early communicative skills, family history and male gender. This might benefit identification of different LD trajectories by supporting broader severe vulnerability for persistent LD, milder vulnerability for transient LD, and possibly a specific risk for reading and learning difficulties for children with late-onset LD.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Imac Maria
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Zambrana
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eadie
authors.forename: Eivind
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ystrom
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: MoBa cohort; early communication; familial risk; gender; language delay; preschool