Comparison between language assessments in childhood and its relationship to psychic risk

Abstract

Objective: To compare the results of language assessments obtained by protocols centered on children’s abilities with the results of an enunciative analysis in cases of language delay, relating them to the psychism. Method: A qualitative, longitudinal case study with three 24-month-old children. They were evaluated in their language skills through the DENVER II and BAYLEY III protocols. The enunciative evaluation was carried out by means of the analysis of the videos of the interactions between the mothers and the babies from which the enunciative mechanisms and strategies were identified. The psychological risk was evaluated through the Clinical Indicators for Infant Development (IRDI) and PREAUT Signs, and it was compared with M-CHAT. Results: The language evaluations demonstrated that the Bayley III test is more sensitive to delay in the grammatical domain than the Denver II. The enunciative analyzes demonstrated the limitation in the enunciative mechanisms in the case of more severe psychic risk, but also the linguistic potential of the children. Conclusion: The comparison made it possible to identify the difference between standardized tests and the enunciative evaluation, since the limitation in enunciative mechanisms and some items related to speech addressing to the other in the Bayley III test allowed to identify the language limitations related to the changes in intersubjectivity.