Can we see the earliest signs of language development in a baby's brain before they say their first word?

Language delays affect roughly 1 in 10 kids, but by the time of diagnosis, critical windows for intervention may be closing. 

A new Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior study from Mirella Dapretto's lab asks a profound question: can we see the earliest signs of language development in a baby's brain before they say their first word? 

Using resting-state brain scans from infants, the team found that the language network is already organizing itself in ways that predict how well a child will be speaking at age 2. Infants whose language networks showed atypical connectivity in infancy were more likely to show language delays later. 

This is the kind of early biomarker research that could one day transform how we identify and support children who need help earliest. 

Read the entire paper: Language network functional connectivity in infancy predicts developmental language trajectories