Early language development in children with prenatal exposure to stimulant drugs

Abstract

Early language development was assessed in 60 children of substance‐abusing mothers (CSAMs) born at term and without other pre‐ or postnatal complications. The MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory was used in 2 studies: laboratory measures of a subset of children in Study 2 replicated and extended the results of Study 1. Results showed significant delays in all aspects of language measured for a sizable proportion of the CSAMs. Neither type of drug nor general developmental status predicted language ability. The small number of children in birth homes showed the best performance on all language measures; those in foster care, including relative care, showed the worst. In both studies, older CSAMs did more poorly than younger ones.