Relationship between mother and infant attachment and primary speech and language delay.

Introduction and Objective: Speech and language delay is a condition that negatively affects all developmental areas of the child, especially social development. While evaluating delayed speech, it is necessary to investigate the underlying organic causes as well as the psychological causes in detail. Healthy attachment during infancy is thought to have an important effect on language development as well as on all development areas of the baby. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between primary speech and language delay and mother-infant attachment. Material and Method: The research included 80 children aged between 24-42 months who were admitted to pediatric outpatient clinics with the suspicion of speech and language delay as the study group and 80 healthy children who did not have any medical problems as the control group. A questionnaire developed by the researcher was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics, developmental history and risk factors and hearing test was requested from those with language delay. To evaluate language development of children Bayley Infant and Early Childhood Developmental Assessment Scale III (part of language development), Test of Early Turkish Language Development (TELD), to evaluate their general development and language development Denver II Developmental Screening Test, and to evaluate them in terms of autism Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) was administered to each child. Maternal postnatal attachment scale (MPAS) and the MotherInfant Bonding Scale (MIBS) were administered to the mothers to measure mother-infant bonding. Results: Case and control groups were matched in terms of age and sex, and both groups consisted of 77.5% male and 22.5% female participants between 24-42 months. The average age of the participants was 31.7 (± 5.94) months. Five children who were thought to have developmental speech delay tested positive on for autism on the M-chat are referred to child psychiatry and autism diagnosis was established and started special education. Children with speech and language delay scored significantly higher on MIBS compared to normally developing children (p=0,001, p<0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups for three factors positive family history of speech language delay, inadequate peer play time, total digital screen time, frequency of reading books (p<0.05). In logistic regression analysis the Odds of language delay was 9.60 times higher in children with positive family history of delayed speech, 8.39 times higher for inadequate peer play time, 2.77 times higher for digital media exposure >1 hour and 2.62 times higher for children whose parents don't read books to them (OR respectively OR= 9.601; 8.398; 2,774; 2,626). Conclusion: It is concluded that assessment of mother infant attachment and improvement of quality of mother child interaction is important in the evaluation and therapeutic approach of a child with speech and language delay besides limiting screen exposure and increasing book reading sessions. Key Words: language development, attachment, delayed speech, child development, autism