Psychologist Dr Penny Roy and co-researcher linguist Professor Shula Chiat from City University, London, used tests that assess children's ability to process language and their social and cognitive skills rather than focusing on language itself.
Dr Roy said that more than half of children referred to speech and language therapists usually resolve difficulties naturally by the time they start school. The study aimed to find ways to identify early on which of these children would have long-term problems.
Dr Roy said, 'Children who are referred get broad language assessments, which only tell you about language development. We came to it from a different angle, by looking at the skills that underpin language.'
The study involved 200 children in London referred to speech and language therapists between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half. In one test, children were asked to repeat a mixture of real words and made-up words to assess their ability to recognise sounds as words.
Another test assessed meaning, for example matching the word 'cat' to the animal 'cat'. An inability to do this could indicate problems with social and communication skills.
The same children were tested again at four and five.
Dr Roy said, 'We found our assessments were the best predictors of children's social and communication skills and specific aspects of language development, such as understanding sentence structure.'