A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Latent Profiles of Early Language Development in a Large Finnish-Speaking Sample of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study
Authors: Saloranta, Essi; Yada, Akie; Mccauley, Stewart; Yli-Savola, Aura; Savo, Satu; Renvall, Kati; Eskola, Eeva; Fernandes, Michelle; Korja, Riikka; Karlsson, Hasse; Karlsson, Linnea; Mainela-Arnold, Elina
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume: 68
Issue: 8
First page : 3989
Last page: 4005
ISSN: 1092-4388
eISSN: 1558-9102
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00767
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_jslhr-24-00767
Purpose: Research on early language development has primarily used two categories to group at-risk children, differing by the age at which risk is identified. Late talkers are toddlers with late onset of language development, some of whom may catch up with peers. Developmental language disorder is used to refer to children above the age of 4 years. To this day, the longitudinal relationship between the two categories remains unclear. In this study, we explored early language trajectories in a large birth cohort using exploratory methodology to gain better understanding of the types and prevalence of language trajectories from 14 months to 5 years of age, with particular interest in risk trajectories that cluster statistically. Method: We conducted latent profile analysis (LPA) on seven language variables collected between 1 and 5 years of age (N = 1,281). Multinomial logistic regression procedure was used to identify child and family characteristics that predicted profile memberships. Results: The LPA yielded three profiles of language development described as persistent low, stable average, and stable high. Female sex, longer duration of pregnancy, and higher maternal socioeconomic status increased the odds of belonging to the stable high-language profile, whereas male sex and not being first born increased the odds of belonging to persistent low language profile. Conclusions: Contrary to previous research, we did not observe increasing or decreasing profiles, suggesting that toddler language difficulties tend to persist at age 5 years, at least in this birth cohort. This suggests commencing language intervention early instead of the wait-and-see approach.
Funding information in the publication:
This research was financially supported by University of Turku Graduate School wages to the first author, an anonymous endowed fund to University of Turku Speech-Language Pathology, Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Learning Dynamics and Intervention Research, Research Council of Finland, Strategic Research Council established within the Research Council of Finland, Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Yrjoe Jahnsson Foundation, Frilasarettet Eschnerska Stiftelsen, and Hospital District of Southwest Finland State Research Grants. We would like to warmly thank the families of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort for their contribution. Our sincerest thanks also go to the many researchers of the FinnBrain Study without whom this study would have been impossible to conduct. Special thanks go to Matti Lindberg for creating the SES variable and clinical speech-language pathology and psychology students at the University of Turku for their contributions in conducting the 5 -year assessments and transcribing the language samples.
