Communication and language in abused and institutionalized minors. A scoping review

Background: Since the 1950s, research has shown the learning, cognitive, behavioral, and social development problems presented by minors who have suffered abuse or neglect in their family or have been institutionalized.
Aims: This scoping review adopts a descriptive focus to compile and analyze those studies published between 2007 and 2017 that have assessed the impact of situations of vulnerability or institutionalization on linguistic and communicative development.
Methods: Following an initial screening process, 22 studies were selected and analyzed.
Main Contribution: The results confirm that these minors suffer a delay in their communicative and linguistic abilities, and that linguistic delays seem to persist throughout the entire developmental cycle. Insufficient studies prove the correlation between the kind of abuse suffered and the type of communicative-linguistic alteration shown. The age at which the child suffers abuse or is institutionalized and the lack of stimulation are key variables in explaining deficits in linguistic development and the child’s later linguistic competence. The delays seem to be long-lasting unless the intervention takes place before the first two years of age.
Conclusions: Since alterations in a child’s linguistic development affect their cognitive, academic, social, and emotional development, early assessment of and intervention in the communicative and linguistic delays shown by this group are of paramount importance.