Functional Communication Abilities in Youth With Cerebral Palsy: Association With Impairment Profiles and School-Based Therapy Goals

Developmental trajectories of spoken language comprehension and functional communication in children with cerebral palsy: A prospective cohort study

AIM

To investigate spoken language comprehension (SLC), single-word comprehension (SWC), functional communication development, and their determinants, in children with cerebral palsy.

METHOD

This was a prospective cohort study in the Netherlands spanning 2 years 6 months. The main outcomes were SLC and SWC, assessed by the Computer-Based instrument for Low motor Language Testing (C-BiLLT) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III-NL (PPVT-III-NL) respectively; and functional communication, measured by a subscale of the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six-34 (FOCUS-34). Linear mixed models were used to determine developmental trajectories, which were compared with norm and reference data. Potential determinants, for example intellectual functions, speech production, functional communication level (classified with the Communication Function Classification System, CFCS), and functional mobility, were added to assess their effects.

RESULTS

Children with cerebral palsy (n = 188; mean age 59 months, range 17-110) were monitored for 2 years 6 months. Developmental trajectories for SLC (C-BiLLT) and SWC (PPVT-III-NL) were nonlinear; those for functional communication (FOCUS-34) were linear. Compared with norm and reference groups, significantly delayed SLC, SWC, and functional communication development were found. Determinants for SLC and SWC were intellectual functions and functional communication level (CFCS); and for functional communication development (FOCUS-34), speech production and arm-hand functioning.

INTERPRETATION

Children with cerebral palsy showed delayed SLC, SWC, and functional communication development compared with norm and reference groups. Remarkably, functional mobility was not associated with the development of SLC, SWC, or functional communication.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

Children with cerebral palsy have delayed spoken language comprehension (SLC), single-word comprehension (SWC), and functional communication development, compared to norm and reference data. Determinants for SLC and SWC development are intellectual functions and functional communication level. Determinants for functional communication development are speech production and arm-hand functioning. Functional mobility is not associated with SLC, SWC, or functional communication.

Childhood Dysarthria: Auditory-Perceptual Profiles Against the Background of Typical Speech Motor Development

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to describe childhood dysarthria by means of auditory-perceptual analyses covering all speech subsystems. We aimed to identify the most seriously affected auditory-perceptual dimensions in the observed dysarthria profiles and to detect specific markers of childhood dysarthria against the backdrop of typical speech development. Moreover, the relationship between the speech disorder and other relevant aspects of multiple disability was investigated.

METHOD

Thirty-one children with neurologic conditions were assessed with Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales for Childhood Dysarthria, a German tool for the auditory-perceptual analysis of dysarthria in children. Nine relevant speech dimensions (scales, e.g., voice quality [VOQ]) and 29 individual symptoms (features, e.g., breathy) were evaluated. Moreover, we documented motor, communicative, and cognitive-linguistic measures (i.e., Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS], Communication Function Classification System [CFCS], Test for Reception of Grammar [TROG-D], and memory span). Recently published data from typically developing children were used for the purpose of age normalization.

RESULTS

Dysarthria severity was moderately correlated with GMFCS and CFCS but not with TROG-D and memory span. At the group level, respiration, articulation, and prosodic modulation were most severely affected, whereas voice function was only mildly affected or even spared in the majority of children. Four features were identified as most relevant markers of childhood dysarthria: conspicuous rhythm/stress pattern, hypernasality, strained-strangled voice, and reduced articulatory precision.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood dysarthria is part of a complex multiple disability, but speech motor skills may still dissociate from gross-motor and cognitive-linguistic functions. Auditory-perceptual analyses incorporating age norms allow for a comprehensive description and identification of childhood dysarthria.