Controversial issues in the early identification of atypical language development in young children

Atypical language is one of the most common developmental problems in early childhood. The estimated prevalence of children with atypical language development varies from 2% to 19%. Early identification of children with atypical language development is important in order to prevent the significant impact on social emotional development, aca- demic school success, and quality of life in the preschool years. The article by Guarini et al.(2016) is of great interest as it can contribute to the identification of children born pre- term at risk for language impairments. It also contributes to the discussion about the concept of atypical language and the relation between language development, and cog- nitive and memory skills. This commentary aims to describe three controversial issues concerning the identifi- cation of atypical language development in young children.