Language development and symbolic play in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia

The purposes of this study were to investigate (a) whether children in fami lies with a positive history of dyslexia were more likely to show delays in language development than children without family risk and (b) whether a d elayed onset of expressive language (late talking) predicted later language development. We analyzed the language development of 200 children longitud inally at 14, 24, 30, and 42 months and assessed their symbolic play at 14 months. Half of the children (N = 106) were from families with a history of dyslexia (the Dyslexia Risk [DR] group), and other children served as age- matched controls. Parental reports and structured tests were used to assess children's receptive and expressive language and symbolic play. No differe nces emerged between the two groups in receptive language, symbolic play, o r on the Bayley MDL The groups, however, diverged in expressive language me asures. The maximum sentence length at 2 years and object naming and inflec tional morphology skills at 3.5 years were higher for the control group tha n for the DR group. Reynell receptive score at 2.5 years provided the great est unique contribution to the prediction of the children's receptive and e xpressive language. Children's risk status did not contribute to receptive language, but provided a significant contribution to their expressive langu age at 3.5 years, even after the variance associated with parental educatio n and children's previous language skills was controlled. Late talkers in t he DR group differed from the other members of the DR group in both recepti ve and expressive language at 3.5 years, although in the control group chil dren with a late-talking history performed at age-level expectations. The f indings suggest that children with a familial risk for dyslexia and with a history of late talking are at higher risk for delays in language acquisiti on than children without the familial risk for dyslexia.