Quality of life of children with language delays

Abstract

We investigated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with language problems and controls. Data on language development (Language Screening Instrument 3-years-olds, Van Wiechen items) and HRQOL by means of the TNO-AZL Pre-school children Quality of Life-questionnaire (TAPQOL) were collected at age 3 in a population-based cohort by parental questionnaire (n = 8877, response 78%; mean age 39.1 months (SD 2.0), 4347 were girls). Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) ranged between 0.63 and 0.85. Dependent on the definition of language problem, 131 to 316 children appeared to be language impaired. Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses (ROC-curves) to assess the discriminative ability of six TAPQOL scales revealed that the Communication scale and Social Functioning scale discriminated best between children with language problems and children without these problems. Language-impaired children had significantly lower scores on the Communication scale and Social Functioning scale as compared to children without language problems (p < 0.01). The findings indicate that language problems at age three can have an impact on children's social life. These results provide additional evidence for the importance of monitoring the language development and its consequences during childhood.