How does shyness affect pediatric language assessments? Researchers point out the need to take into account all temperaments for this task.
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Shyness may distort language assessments in young children, according to a new US study led by a psychologist and a graduate student. Indeed, shy and less shy children do not respond similarly to language assessment methods that involve high levels of social interaction.
For the quasi-experimental research, 122 children — aged 1.5 to 3.5 years — from “ different temperament » participated in a series of three linguistic assessment tasks, where they had to find a known object in a series of images. Each task varied depending on the social interaction required: a looking task, a finger pointing task, and a production task that required a verbal response. The order of tasks was random. Parents reported their child’s level of shyness using a Young Child Behavior Questionnaire.
Gaps in language assessment methods
Although all children performed well on the pointing test, regardless of their level of shyness, the shyest children performed worse in the production task than the least shy children. Performance was more nuanced on the gaze test: shyer children were sometimes more accurate, but also less likely to respond in general. “ It is important for clinicians to recognize shyness when choosing an appropriate child language assessment », conclude the researchers.
