Nonword Repetition in Spanish-Speaking Toddlers with and without Early Language Delays.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nonword repetition (NWR) studies with English-speaking toddlers indicate favorable diagnostic accuracy for identifying early language delays and strong associations with early vocabulary. While scarce, studies of Spanish NWR have revealed strong diagnostic accuracy with preschool- and school-age children. This study aimed to (1) establish the association between Spanish NWR and early linguistic measures, (2) compare the Spanish NWR skills of typical Spanish-speaking toddlers and those of toddlers with early language delays (ELD), and (3) establish the diagnostic accuracy of a Spanish NWR task.

METHODS: Sixty-five Spanish-speaking toddlers were given a NWR task and a language assessment while parents completed a vocabulary checklist and reported their child's longest utterances.

RESULTS: NWR scores were moderately correlated with vocabulary and language. The ELD group had significantly lower NWR scores than peers, and 68% of the sample was classified correctly, with desirable sensitivity but inadequate specificity obtained.

CONCLUSION: Findings from this study revealed developmental trends in Spanish-speaking toddlers' ability to repeat nonwords and that most toddlers were not able to repeat 4- and 5-syllable nonwords. Furthermore, Spanish-speaking children with ELD had more difficulties with NWR than typical peers. The diagnostic accuracy results indicated that the clinical use of a Spanish NWR task for toddlers can serve to detect early language-learning difficulties, especially if used as one of multiple diagnostic sources of information to establish ELD.