Identifying Developmental Language Disorder in Vietnamese Children.
Giang T Pham, Sonja Pruitt-Lord, Catherine E Snow, Yen Hoang Thi Nguyen, Ben Phạm, Thuy Bich Thi Dao, Ngoc Bich Thi Tran, Linh Thuy Pham, Hien Thu Hoang, Quynh Diem Dam
Author Information
Giang T Pham: San Diego State University, CA.
Sonja Pruitt-Lord: San Diego State University, CA.
Catherine E Snow: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Yen Hoang Thi Nguyen: National Academy of Education Management, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ben Phạm: Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam.
Thuy Bich Thi Dao: Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam.
Ngoc Bich Thi Tran: Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam.
Linh Thuy Pham: Hanoi National College of Education, Vietnam.
Hien Thu Hoang: Hanoi National College of Education, Vietnam.
Purpose Developmental language disorder (DLD), defined by low language performance despite otherwise normal development, can negatively impact children's social and academic outcomes. This study is the 1st to examine DLD in Vietnamese. To lay the foundation, we identified cases of DLD in Vietnam and explored language-specific characteristics of the disorder. Method Teacher ratings of 1,250 kindergarteners living in Hanoi, Vietnam, were used to recruit children with and without risk for DLD. One hundred four children completed direct measures of vocabulary and language sampling, and their parents completed in-depth surveys. We examined convergence and divergence across tasks to identify measures that could serve as reliable indicators of risk. Then, we compared performance on direct language measures across ability levels. Results There were positive associations between teacher and parent report and between report and direct language measures. Three groups were identified based on convergence across measures: DLD, some risk for DLD, and no risk. The DLD group performed lowest on measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary, mean length of utterance, and grammaticality. Although children with DLD exhibited a greater number of errors, the types of errors found were similar across DLD and No Risk groups. Conclusions Similar to rates found globally, 7% of the kindergarten population in Vietnam exhibited risk for DLD. Results highlight the importance of parent and teacher report and the value of multiple measures to identify DLD. We discuss potential clinical markers for DLD in the Vietnamese language and outline future directions.
References
J Mem Lang. 2004 Aug;51(2):247-250
[PMID: 23002322]
