Ratib Lekhal

Co-occurring development of early childhood communication and motor skills: results from a population-based longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND Communicative and motor development is frequently found to be associated. In the current study we investigate to what extent communication and motor skills at 1½ years predict skills in the same domains at 3 years of age. METHODS This study is based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Heath. Data stem from 62,944 children and their mothers. Mothers completed questionnaires on their childs communication and motor skills at ages 1½ and 3. Associations between communication and motor skills were estimated in a cross-lagged model with latent variables. RESULTS Early communication skills were correlated with early motor skills (0.72). Stability was high (0.81) across time points for motor skills and somewhat lower (0.40) for communication skills. Early motor skills predicted later communication skills (0.38) whereas early communication skills negatively predicted later motor skills (-0.14). CONCLUSION Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that these two difficulties are not symptoms of separate disorders, but might rather be different manifestations of a common underlying neurodevelopmental weakness. However, there also seem to be specific developmental pathways for each domain. Besides theoretical interest, more knowledge about the relationship between these early skills might shed light upon early intervention strategies and preventive efforts commonly used with children with problems in these areas. Our findings suggest that the relationship between language and motor skills is not likely to be simple and directional but rather to be complex and multifaceted.

Does universally accessible child care protect children from late talking? Results from a Norwegian population-based prospective study

This study examines the association between type of child care arrangement at age 1, 1.5 and 3 years and late talking (LT). The data were from 19,919 children in the population-based prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and included information about child care arrangement, LT and a variety of covariates. Attendance at universally accessible child care at 1.5 and 3 years of age was related to a reduced risk for LT, even after controlling for covariates, including early social communication skills before entering child care. However, type of child care at one year of age did not predict LT. Children attending centre care full-time at age three years showed less LT than children attending centre care part-time, whereas no such relationship was found for children at age 1.5 years or for children attending family day care. The results indicate that high-quality universal child care protects children from LT.

Norwayʼs High-Quality Center Care Reduces Late Talking in High- and Low-Risk Groups

Objectives: To examine whether attendance in Norwegian high-quality center care in the first 3 years of life buffers the negative effects of biomedical risk factors on childrens late talking (LT) at 3 years of age. Methods: Data on 75,128 children from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were analyzed and include information on child care arrangements, LT, and a variety of covariates. A biomedical risk group (N = 6893) was constructed on the basis of information from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway on childrens Apgar scores 5 minutes after birth, birth weight, and gestational age. Late talking was reported by mothers when their children were 3 years old. Results: In line with previous research, children born with biomedical risk factors were at higher risk for LT at age 3 years than children born without biomedical risk factors. Child care arrangement at age 1 was not significantly related to LT at age 3 years. At both 1.5 and 3 years of age, center care attendance was related to a reduced chance of LT, independently of whether the children were in the biomedical risk group or not. However, our main hypothesis was not confirmed. Center care attendance did not buffer the negative effects of biomedical risk factors on LT for boys or girls (all p > .05). Conclusion: Although attendance in Norwegian center care is positive for childrens language development in general, it does not buffer the negative effects of biomedical risk factors on childrens LT.

Does special education predict students’ math and language skills?

Abstract A large number of children are today receiving special education in Norway. The high cost to society and possible long-term consequences for the students make it important to understand the interrelationship of the causes and effects related to receiving special education services. Unfortunately, at present there are only few rigorous studies of the effects of receiving special education services. This study examined the interrelationship between receiving special education services and students’ math and language skills in upper secondary school in Norway. Data from 2756 students in the large population-based special education study (SPEED) was used that included information from questionnaires on students’ development, learning environment and family background. Results showed that students receiving special education services had slightly lower scores on their language test but similar scores on their math test compared to the group of students not receiving special education services, when conservative methodological approaches were used to control for possible covariate bias.

Receiving extra support in Norwegian centre-based childcare: the role of children's language and socioemotional development

ABSTRACT This study adds to the current literature by examining how different developmental areas (language problems or externalizing and internalizing behaviour problems) affect the possibility of a child receiving extra support early in life. The data were drawn from an online survey of 2779 children in Norway conducted in 2015 and included information about childrens development and on their background and family factors. There was a strong connection between childrens development and the possibility of receiving special education. However, relatively large gender differences were found. Furthermore, only a fairly small proportion of the children characterized as having a problem with language or with internalizing or externalizing behaviour were detected and actually received any special education support.