title: Nonword Repetition in Spanish-Speaking Toddlers with and without Early Language Delays.
abstract: Nonword repetition (NWR) studies with English-speaking toddlers indicate favorable diagnostic accuracy for identifying early language delays and strong associations with early vocabulary. While scarce, studies of Spanish NWR have revealed strong diagnostic accuracy with preschool- and school-age children. This study aimed to (1) establish the association between Spanish NWR and early linguistic measures, (2) compare the Spanish NWR skills of typical Spanish-speaking toddlers and those of toddlers with early language delays (ELD), and (3) establish the diagnostic accuracy of a Spanish NWR task.
  
  
  
  Sixty-five Spanish-speaking toddlers were given a NWR task and a language assessment while parents completed a vocabulary checklist and reported their child's longest utterances.
  
  
  
  NWR scores were moderately correlated with vocabulary and language. The ELD group had significantly lower NWR scores than peers, and 68% of the sample was classified correctly, with desirable sensitivity but inadequate specificity obtained.
  
  
  
  Findings from this study revealed developmental trends in Spanish-speaking toddlers' ability to repeat nonwords and that most toddlers were not able to repeat 4- and 5-syllable nonwords. Furthermore, Spanish-speaking children with ELD had more difficulties with NWR than typical peers. The diagnostic accuracy results indicated that the clinical use of a Spanish NWR task for toddlers can serve to detect early language-learning difficulties, especially if used as one of multiple diagnostic sources of information to establish ELD.
authors.affiliation: Division of Communication Disorders, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo., USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guiberson
authors.forename: Barbara L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007807:Language Tests; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D012660:Semantics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary