“Una parola dopo l’altra”: Individuazione dei bambini a rischio di disturbi del linguaggio e della comunicazione

The major purpose of the project is to identify the children living in Regione Lazio at risk of communicative/language disorder, who could benefit from an appropriate support to reduce the delay. A particular focus will be on the children of immigrant parents, typically exposed to two or more languages and often to disadvantaged socio-economic conditions.

Specific aims are:

• To early identify children with communication/language delay, through validated markers to be shared in the Child Health Care Services of Regione Lazio
• To increase knowledge of early bilingual acquisition in order to identify developmental trajectories in this population of children and to improve tools and procedures for language assessment and endorsement
• To allow pediatricians to easily access to a complete communicative and linguistic profile of their assisted children (via secure and private webaccess)

Expected results

The main quantitative result will be a precise estimate (standard error below 2%) of the prevalence of communication and language delay in two-years old children living in Regione Lazio. The early identification of children with language delay should allow a timely and integrated intervention. In addition, this large survey will enrich the current database, a fundamental tool to investigate communicative and language development. We also expect to define the appropriate markers of language development for children growing up in a bilingual and bicultural environment in order to minimize cultural and language biases and promote their integration.

Impact

An early and appropriate identification of language delay could impact on the prevention of children with serious difficulties later on. An additional impact will be to update families, pediatricians and health workers of the local services on the importance of the early identification of children at-risk, their evaluation and care. In particular pediatricians are expected to become more aware of early communication skills and to make appropriate early referrals.