PräSent

Language development begins well before the production of first words and becomes evident early on through the combination of vocalizations and gestures. This project investigates how milestones in vocal and gestural development at the end of the first year of life interact and how they predict later language development in both monolingual German-speaking and multilingual children.

In a longitudinal study of 150 children aged 9 to 24 months, early vocalizations, gestural abilities, and their combinations are assessed using a multimodal approach. In addition to providing fundamental insights into early communicative development, the project evaluates practice-oriented observational and questionnaire-based tools designed to enable early and time-efficient identification of children at risk for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

The findings are intended to form the basis for the development and evaluation of a multimodal screening tool that allows for valid, time-efficient, and cost-effective identification of children at risk for DLD during a routine pediatric preventive health examination in late infancy (approximately 10–12 months of age).

Project duration:	03/2026 – 03/2029
Principal Investigators:	Prof. Dr. Carina Lüke, Dr. Verena Frank & Dr. Daniela Eiband
Research Staff:	Caterina Verganti & Jana Seidel
Funding:	This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – Project number 573083140.