Socioeconomic status and imitation on language acquisition in a sample of preschool children

Aim. This study examines the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on language acquisition in preschool children. It also evaluates the differences between the development of spontaneous imitation and language skills in verbal and nonverbal children. Methods. New Reynell Developmental Language Scales (NRDLS) was administered to a sample of 60 children aged from 3 years to 5 years and 11 months, with apparently normal language development. The NRDLS were administered in a public nursery school in a poor area of Bari and to a private nursery school in the “Noicattaro” residential district, in order to differentiate SES. The NRDLS identified 19 nonverbal children and 41 verbal children. Results. SES does not affect the process of language acquisition, although the mother's schooldegree improves the child's language capacity. Analysis of mean scores on the NRDLS imitation items revealed a statistically significant difference between the verbal and nonverbal group with more impairment/higher scores in nonverbal than the verbal group. These results suggest that 19 nonverbal children have specifically impaired imitation. These results are further discussed.