Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica
Yuko Kosugi
This study followed 44 children in the prelinguistic period, whose chronological
age was 2-3 years at the start of the study, until they reached the end of preschool
year, at 5-6 years of age. The results were as follows: 1) The children in the
prelinguistic stage who could sort and match objects in the initial assessment
obtained higher IQ/DQ scores at age 5-6 compared to the children who could
not. 2) The children who spoke a few words at home, but no proper word was
heard during the test, achieved higher scores in the follow-up test. 3) The IQ/DQ
of children who could classify objects and imitate the movements of others, but
could not produce words, could catch up with the average level later on. 4)The
3-year-old children in the preverbal period reached below average IQ/DQ at age
5-6, but 12 children who were in the prelinguistic stage at age 2, improved to the
average intellectual functioning. This study suggests that the results of assessment
of children in the prelinguistic period are useful in predicting their developmental
transition.
