Expressive language of two year-old pre-term and full-term children.

Abstract

Background: expressive language of pre-term children.

Aim: to compare the expressive vocabulary of two year-old children born prematurely, to that of those born at term.

Methods: the study sample was composed by 118 speech-language assessment protocols, divided in two groups: the pre-term group (PTG) composed by 58 underweight premature children followed by a multi-professional team at the Casa do Prematuro (House of Premature Children) at Unifesp, and the full-term group (FTG) composed by 60 full-term born children. In order to evaluate the expressive language of these children, the Lave - Lista de Avaliação do Vocabulário Expressivo (Assessment List of the Expressive Vocabulary) was used. The Lave is an adaptation of the LDS - Language Development Survey - for the Brazilian Portuguese Language. The Lave investigates the expressive language and detects delays in oral language.

Results: children born underweight and prematurely present a greater occurrence of expressive language delay, 27.6%. These pre-term children present significantly lower expressive vocabulary and phrasal extension than children of the same age born at full-term in all semantic categories. Family income proved to be positively associated to phrasal extension, as well as to gestational age and weight at birth; thus indicating the effect of these adverse conditions still during the third year of age. The audiological status was associated to word utterances in the PTG.

Conclusion: children born prematurely and underweight are at risk in terms of vocabulary development; this determines the need for speech-therapy intervention programs.