Specific Developmental Language Disorder Research Articles

Long-term prognosis of low language proficiency in children

Objectives This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (prognosis). The objectives are as follows: Primary objectives Population Children between four and eight years of age, diagnosed with a language disorder, or determined to have low language proficiency before age eight. Intervention Not applicable, this is a review of observational studies and will not include active interventions. Comparator The comparison group will be peers or siblings with typically developing language skills, that is, no identified language disorder or low language proficiency. Outcome We will include the following outcomes if measured when participants are at least 12 years old (adolescents and adults): Proximal outcomes in language and literacy (outcomes within the same domain as the original assessments: omnibus tests of expressive, receptive (including listening comprehension), total language, vocabulary, grammar, narrative or expository discourse, clinical markers, such as nonsense word repetition, sentence repetition, or both) World Health Organization quality of life outcomes across five domains: physical (including general health, sleep and energy, sexual health); psychological (including mental health, self‐esteem, memory, learning, and concentration); independence (including activities of daily living, occupational outcomes, dependence on medicinal and non‐medicinal drugs and supports, independent living); social relationships (including friendships, romantic relationships, parenthood, peer problems, and anti‐social behaviour); environment (including academic outcomes, work satisfaction, financial resources, societal participation in leisure/community activities, safety). Timing Studies must have traced the individuals into adolescence, or transition to adulthood or adulthood, or both, thus, when participants are 12 years and older. Setting Identification, or assessment and diagnosis using standard diagnostic algorithms. Precise measures and cutoffs on standardised tests will vary from study to study. For instance, Tomblin 1997 used the diagnostic algorithm of < ‐1.25 standard deviations on two or more language composite scores; and in Norbury 2016, language disorder was defined as scores of −1.5 standard deviations or below on two of five language composites in the absence of intellectual disability, existing medical diagnosis, or both. Identification by speech‐language pathologists, educational psychology services, or in the context of research (population studies). Identification includes measures of language, such as vocabulary, grammar, morphosyntax, narrative. It can be expressive measure(s), receptive measure(s), or both. We will exclude identification made on the basis of tests of phonology/speech production, pragmatics, reading, or working memory only. We will include large‐scale population studies in which low language proficiency may be determined by a cut‐off of at least ‐1 standard deviation on at least one standard test of language to assess longitudinal relationships between single measures and quality of life outcomes in large community samples (Beitchman 2014; Caspi 2016; Thornton 2021). The main objective of this review is to assess the long‐term prognosis of an early language disorder or low language proficiency (LLP) for children aged four to eight years at baseline, and from age 12 years and up at follow‐up, in areas of language and literacy, and broad quality of life outcomes in physical, psychological, independence, social relationships, and environment outcomes. This will include measures of mental and physical health, academic outcome, employment status, financial resources, and societal participation. We will ask the following research questions: 1) To what extent do children with LLP age four to eight years show higher risk for persistent difficulties with language and literacy into adolescence and adulthood? 2) To what extent do children age four to eight years, with LLP, experience higher risk for poor quality of life across five domains of physical, psychological, independence, social relationships, and environment well‐being in adolescence, and adulthood (WHO 2012)? Secondary objectives Secondary objectives are: 1) to understand how severity of early language problems affects long‐term prognosis and quality of life, and 2) to identify gaps in the extant research. For instance, while the indicative sample of papers consistently report academic and employment outcomes, there is little evidence regarding physical or medical health outcomes. Investigation of sources of heterogeneity between studies We expect that there will be substantial heterogeneity between the included studies on the following variables: Diagnostic criteria Severity of language impairment Method of ascertainment (population study versus recruitment from special schools or clinics) Year of publication Age of outcome measurement Inclusiveness of non‐verbal IQ (Specific Language Impairment versus Developmental Language Disorder) Stability of schooling (e.g. special school consistently versus changing between special school and mainstream classrooms) Literacy skills

Associations Between Maternal Antenatal Corticosteroid Treatment and Psychological Developmental and Neurosensory Disorders in Children

Corticosteroids administered to women at risk of imminent preterm birth is one of the most effective ways to improve the prognosis of infants born preterm. Scant data about long-term neurodevelopmental and neurosensory outcomes among the treatment-exposed children are mixed, suggesting that not all domains of neurodevelopmental and neurosensory function may be equally affected. Moreover, the long-term outcomes may vary according to whether the treatment-exposed children are being born preterm (<37 weeks and 0 days) or term (≥37 weeks and 0 days). To study whether antenatal corticosteroid treatment is associated with psychological developmental and neurosensory disorders in children born term and preterm and whether the associations persist in a sibling-comparison design. This population-based retrospective register-linkage study comprised all singleton live births in Finland between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2017, followed up until December 31, 2018, as well as a sibling comparison among term sibling pairs. Data were analyzed from March 21, 2021, to July 7, 2022. Antenatal corticosteroid treatment. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the associations between antenatal corticosteroid treatment and physician-diagnosed specific developmental disorders of speech and language, scholastic skills, and motor function; pervasive developmental disorder; other or unspecified psychological developmental disorder; disorders of vison and hearing; epilepsy; and cerebral palsy. The study population comprised 670 097 singleton children (342 562 boys [51.1%]) followed up for a median of 5.8 years (IQR, 3.1-8.7 years). Of the 14 868 treatment-exposed children (2.2%; 53.9% boys), 6730 (45.3%) were born term, and 8138 (54.7%) were born preterm, and of the 655 229 nonexposed children (97.8%; 51.1% boys), 634 757 (96.9%) were born term, and 20 472 (3.1%) were born preterm. Of the 241 621 eligible maternal sibling pairs born term, 4128 (1.7%) were discordant for treatment exposure. Compared with nonexposure in the entire population, treatment exposure was significantly associated with higher adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for specific developmental disorders of speech and language (aHR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.27-1.50]; P < .001), specific developmental disorders of scholastic skills (aHR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.13-1.54]; P = .004), specific developmental disorder of motor function (aHR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.18-1.49]; P < .001), pervasive developmental disorder (aHR, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.17-1.56]; P < .001), other or unspecified disorder of psychological development (aHR, 1.88 [95% CI, 1.58-2.25]; P < .001), and vision or hearing loss (aHR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.04-1.43]; P = .02). Compared with nonexposure in the term-born group, treatment exposure was significantly associated with higher aHRs for specific developmental disorders of speech and language (aHR, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.31-1.66]; P < .001), specific developmental disorders of scholastic skills (aHR, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.01-1.63]; P = .04), specific developmental disorder of motor function (aHR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.12-1.70]; P < .001), pervasive developmental disorder (aHR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.16-1.75]; P < .001), other or unspecified disorder of psychological development (aHR, 1.92 [95% CI, 1.51-2.43]; P < .001), epilepsy (aHR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.22-2.01]; P < .001), and cerebral palsy (aHR, 2.18 [95% CI, 1.47-3.23]; P < .001). The hazard for any psychological developmental and neurosensory disorder was significantly higher for the treatment-exposed sibling compared with the nonexposed cosibling (absolute difference, 1.2% [95% CI, 0.03%-2.4%]; P < .001; aHR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.04-1.42]; P = .01). Antenatal corticosteroids were not associated with either significant benefit or risk in the preterm group. This study suggests that the possible long-term psychological developmental and neurosensory harms warrant careful consideration of risks and benefits when deciding on maternal antenatal corticosteroid treatment.

The profile of reading and cognitive skills of children with a history of specific developmental language disorder

The present study aimed to investigate the profile of reading and cognitive skills of primary school' students with a history of specific developmental language disorder during preschool years. The sample comprised 247 children referred for assessment of their reading difficulties to the University Child Psychiatry Department, at the "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece. The study was retrospective utilizing medical records from where the following information was drawn: demographic data, presence of a diagnosis of a specific developmental language disorder, results of Reading Test-A and WISC-III. Among the 247 children with normal intelligence IQ>80 (mean age: 10.5 years, 61.5% boys) included in the study, 226 (92.5%) were identified as having significant reading difficulties in at least one of the four subtests of the Reading-A Test (≤ 30 percentile); 72% performed poorly in reading fluency, 67.1% in decoding familiar and pseudowords, 52.8% in reading comprehension and 49.8% in morphosyntax subtest. When comparing children with severe reading difficulties (≤ 10 percentile on the Reading Test A) with a history of specific developmental language disorder (N=110) and no relevant history (N=116), the findings indicated that a significantly higher proportion of children with a history of specific language disorder had severe difficulty in morphosyntax (χ2=21.94, p<0.001) and reading comprehension subtests (χ2=8.89, p <0,001) than those with no history. In terms of the cognitive profile of children with severe reading difficulties, the results showed that a significantly higher proportion of children with a history of developmental language disorder than those with no history had low performance (<7TB) on all WISC-III subtests, however the difference between the two groups was found to be statistically significant on three subtests: "Vocabulary" (p=0.014), Arithmetic (p=0.006), and "Information" (p=0.005). Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed that lower levels of the verbal IQ (β=-0.121, p=0.042) and positive history of developmental language disorder during preschool years (β=0.537, p<0.001) were independently related to the severity of reading disability. In conclusion, the findings of the present study highlight the importance of early detection of language deficits during the preschool years and timely speech and language therapy intervention.

Language and Executive Function in Preschoolers With Developmental Language Disorder: The Role of Self-Directed Speech

Purpose: Our goal was to examine the relationship between language and executive function in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or developmental language disorder (DLD) with a specific focus on how language in the form of self-directed speech (SDS) affects executive functioning in this population. Method: Participants included thirty-one 4- and 5-year-old children with DLD. Children completed a visual, computer-based continuous performance task (CPT) that tapped their sustained selective attention. SDS children produced during this task was coded off-line for intelligibility, task relevancy, and whether it was regulatory. Regression analyses were used to characterize the relationship between children's performance on the CPT and their SDS. Results: The majority of SDS that children produced during the CPT was task relevant and regulatory, but there was individual variability in the total amount of SDS produced. Children's percentage of regulatory SDS was a significant predictor of their CPT performance. Conclusions: Because SDS is positively associated with executive function performance but has delayed development among children with SLI and/or DLD, clinicians have an opportunity to support SDS development in children. We discuss specific approaches and clinical activities for supporting SDS development in early childhood.

Tense Marking in the Kindergarten Population: Testing the Bimodal Distribution Hypothesis.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore whether evidence for a bimodal distribution of tense marking, previously documented in clinically referred samples, exists in a population-based sample of kindergarten children from a rural county in Tennessee. Method A measure of tense marking, the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI) Screening Test, was individually administered to consented kindergarten students (N = 153) across three elementary schools in a single school district. The consented children constituted 73% of kindergartners in the district. Cluster analysis was used to evaluate the number and composition of latent classes that best fit the distribution of the TEGI Screening Test scores. Results Analysis of the scores revealed a distribution that deviated significantly from normality. Cluster analyses (Ward's, k-means, single linkage) revealed a two-cluster solution as the best fitting model. The very large effect-size difference in mean TEGI Screening Test score between the two clusters (d = 4.77) provides validation of an identifiable boundary delineating typical from atypical tense marking in this sample of kindergartners. The difference in tense marking across the two clusters was not attributable to child chronological age. The percentage of the sample comprising the low-performing cluster aligns with specific language impairment and developmental language disorder prevalence estimates. Conclusion Additional demonstrations of a bimodal distribution of tense marking in future studies with carefully defined samples could strengthen the clinical marker evidence and utility of this linguistic feature.

Literacy-supporting skills in college students with specific reading comprehension deficit and developmental language disorder.

Specific reading comprehension deficit (S-RCD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) are both commonly occurring developmental disorders of language. The ways in which these disorders do and do not overlap during childhood are a matter of debate (Nation & Norbury, 2005). Moreover, in both populations, the challenges faced by individuals in adulthood are understudied. Here, we combined data across cohorts of college students, and classified individuals with only S-RCD (n = 20), only DLD (n = 55), and co-occurring S-RCD and DLD (n = 13). Individuals with good language and reading skills, who matched those with S-RCD on decoding, comprised our typical language and reading group (TD; n = 20). Beyond the measures used for classification, group-level differences were identified in sentence-level reading fluency, phonological processing, verbal working memory, and rapid automatized naming. We found that skill profiles differed across groups; however, we found no evidence of weaknesses beyond the core deficit in reading comprehension observed in those with only S-RCD. In contrast, when S-RCD co-occurs with DLD, weaknesses are observed in phonological processing, as well as reading fluency and verbal working memory. These findings suggest that some adults with S-RCD have co-occurring DLD as a core weakness. These findings, as well as differences between individuals with S-RCD and DLD, are further discussed.

Specific Language Impairment and Language Delay: an Analysis of Developmental Language Disorder Characteristics in a Group of Romanian Children

Introduction: Although specific language impairment (SLI) or developmental language disorder (DLD) and language delay (LD) are fairly well documented language disorders, the specificity for Romanian children has not been clearly highlighted. Methods: EF were measured with the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF), and social and academic competences were measured with the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). The sample for this study consisted of 44 adolescents with mild intellectual disability aged 15-18 years old (mean age 16.7 years, SD- 1.4). Objectives: This study aims to identify the common and differential elements of the DLD (SLI) and LD through a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Methods: We considered two groups of children: one diagnosed with DLD (n = 67) and another with LD (n = 57), aged 3 to 12 years (M age = 5 years 8 months). Tests for establishing the language psychological age and the active and passive vocabulary, recording the phonetic inventory and language sample analysis (LSA) for qualitative observations were used as analysis tools. These instruments proved to be useful in establishing the specificity of each disorder and formulating the prognosis. Results: A statistical analysis (Student’s t test) was conducted in order to compare the children in LD and DLD groups. The data obtained from this analysis along with LSA indicate that the language skills differ between the two groups in the following aspects: lexical, pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological. Significant differences (p < .05) occur for the start of speech therapy age, phonological disorder, passive vocabulary and language psychological age. Results for active vocabulary did not indicate a statistical difference between LD and DLD children. Conclusions: The characteristics of DLD and LD were noted in this study. These language disorders have specific markers, which imply differentiated measures, from the diagnosis phase to the construction of the remediation plan. The study is a prospective one, this issue being the subject for further exhaustive approaches.

Children with speech delay – A retrospective chart review

Introduction: Speech delay is a common problem in children less than 6 years. The reported prevalence of language delay in children two to seven years of age ranges from 2.3 to 19%. Various psychiatric disorders may manifest as speech delay in the early period. Usually, these children are initially seen by the primary care physician who gives reassurances and often fails to refer them to a psychiatrist. In these cases, the children miss out on the specialised assessment that they require and consequent help. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate each child with speech delay. Early identification and starting appropriate therapy as early as possible is very important for good clinical long term outcome. In this context, this study was carried out to investigate socio-demographic and other factors associated with speech delay. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study design was used to collect data from case files of children aged less than 6 years who were referred to the psychiatric OPD for speech delay between May 2015 and May 2017. Their socio-demographic details, antenatal, perinatal and postnatal details, medical comorbidities, psychological assessment reports such as developmental and social quotient were collected and evaluated. Results: In our study, speech delay was predominant in male child, middle and low socioeconomic status, semi-urban population & nuclear family. Mild deficits in developmental and social functioning was found according to DST and VSMS. Conclusion: This study’s findings may prove relevant to therapists when planning comprehensive and effective treatment for such children. Keywords: Speech delay, Specific developmental disorders of speech and language, Pervasive developmental disorders, Mental retardation.

Neuroimaging genetics studies of specific reading disability and developmental language disorder: A review.

Developmental disorders of spoken and written language are heterogeneous in nature with impairments observed across various linguistic, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains. These disorders are also associated with characteristic patterns of atypical neural structure and function that are observable early in development, often before formal schooling begins. Established patterns of heritability point toward genetic contributions, and molecular genetics approaches have identified genes that play a role in these disorders. Still, identified genes account for only a limited portion of phenotypic variance in complex developmental disorders, described as the problem of "missing heritability." The characterization of intermediate phenotypes at the neural level may fill gaps in our understanding of heritability patterns in complex disorders, and the emerging field of neuroimaging genetics offers a promising approach to accomplish this goal. The neuroimaging genetics approach is gaining prevalence in language- and reading-related research as it is well-suited to incorporate behavior, genetics, and neurobiology into coherent etiological models of complex developmental disorders. Here, we review research applying the neuroimaging genetics approach to the study of specific reading disability (SRD) and developmental language disorder (DLD), much of which links genes with known neurodevelopmental function to functional and structural abnormalities in the brain.

COPE-COMMUNITY OUTREACH OF PAEDIATRICS AND PSYCHIATRY IN EDUCATION. A 16 YEAR REVIEW: 2001–2017

COPE is a collaboration between health and education in a large urban centre. The program enables vulnerable children with undiagnosed developmental, behavioural, mental health and/or medical problems which impact their learning and socialization, to be seen by a paediatrician or child psychiatrist at their school, with first hand input from the school and family. To introduce and describe COPE to paediatricians in Canada. To review 16 years of the program by identifying gender characteristics of the population served, major diagnoses resulting from the consultaitons, describe the referral process, and to present an evaluation of the program obtained through surveying the schools and families for their perception of efficacy, usefulness and confidentiality of the process. This is a review of 3105 children and adolescents served through COPE from 2001–2017. Data has been collected for 16 years and has been analyzed to calculate gender ratios, percentage of consults that required follow up appointments, and percentage of files reactivated for ongoing or new difficulties. ICD 10 codes were collated for the children who had specific diagnoses and were analyzed to determine category of medical, behavioural, developmental and mental health issues being addressed. Likert scale (1–4) surveys sent to school personel and parents were analyzed. The program initially saw only elementary children, but has expanded to include all ages. 80 % of students were male, 20 % female, and 0.45% transgendered. There was an average of 2.3 contacts per child. 39% were initial consultations, 61% reviews/follow-ups. 21% of files were reactivated to address new or ongoing concerns. The most common ICD10 code was Hyperkinetic disorders =71%. Anxiety disorders =13%, Developmental disorders of scholastic skills =12 %, conduct disorders-(the majority are ODD)=10%, specific developmental disorders of speech and language =9%, pervasive developmental disorders =7%, problems related to upbringing, negative life events and family circumstances =7%, and reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders =5%, (1265 /3104 had ICD10 diagnoses) Many children had multiple diagnoses. ICD coding for all medical and psychiatric diagnoses, and problems related to the family and social circumstances was not done consistently in the early years of the program. The profile of the students served in the past 5 years is fairly constant, and the social complexity of each individual case is increasing. Family and school satisfaction surveys were tracked for 7 years. They consistently report being very satisfied with scores falling between 3.2 and 3.9 on a four point Likert scale. COPE is a highly successful diagnosis and intervention model, impacting a large number of children identified as priorities by their schools.

Family aggregation of language impairment in an isolated Chilean population from Robinson Crusoe Island.

It has been reported that the inhabitants of the Chilean Robinson Crusoe Island have an increased frequency of specific language impairment (SLI) or developmental language disorder (DLD). To explore the familial aggregation of DLD in this community. We assessed the frequency of DLD amongst colonial children between the ages of 3 and 8;11 years (50 individuals from 45 nuclear families). Familial aggregation rates of language disorder were calculated by assessing all available first-degree relatives (n = 107, 77 parents, 25 siblings, five half-siblings) of the probands. We found that 71% of the child population performed significantly below expected in measures of phonological production or expressive and receptive morphology. The majority of these children presented with severe expressive and/or receptive language difficulties. One-quarter of language-disordered probands primarily had phonological difficulties. Family members of affected probands experienced a higher risk of language disorder than those of typically developing probands. This increased risk was apparent regardless of non-verbal IQ. The study substantiates the existence of a familial form of speech and language disorder on Robinson Crusoe Island. Furthermore, we find that the familiarity is stable regardless of non-verbal IQ, supporting the recent movement to reduce the importance of non-verbal IQ criterion in DLD diagnoses.

Tense and plural formation in Welsh-English bilingual children with and without language impairment.

Grammatical morphology has been shown to be problematic for children with specific language impairment (SLI) or developmental language disorder (DLD). Most research on this topic comes from widely spoken languages, such as English. Despite Welsh being the most extensively spoken indigenous in the UK after English, and Wales being the only official bilingual country in the UK, our knowledge about the morphosyntactic areas of Welsh that may pose problems for Welsh-speaking children with SLI is limited. Currently, Welsh-speaking speech and language therapists (SLTs) are heavily reliant on the use of informally translated English assessments. This can inadvertently result in a failure to take aspects of Welsh morphosyntax into account that are critical for the assessment and treatment of Welsh-speaking children. This is the first study to examine how Welsh-English bilingual children of early school age with typical development (bi-TD) and with SLI (bi-SLI) perform on production tasks targeting verbal and nominal morphology in Welsh. We targeted areas of Welsh morphosyntax that could potentially be vulnerable for Welsh-speaking children with or at risk of language impairment, such as tense marking and plural formation, and assessed their diagnostic potential. Twenty-eight Welsh-dominant bilingual children participated in the study: 10 bi-SLI and 18 bi-TD. They were administered three elicitation tasks targeting the production of verbal (compound and synthetic past tense) and nominal (plural) morphology in Welsh. The bi-SLI children performed worse than their bi-TD peers across all three tasks. They produced more uninflected verbs in the elicited-production task and were less likely to be prompted to produce the synthetic past, which is a concatenating, low-frequency form of the past tense. They also over-regularized less in the context of plural nouns, and when they did, they opted for high-frequency suffixes. By focusing on aspects of morphosyntactic development which are unique to Welsh, we have increased existing about how verbal and nominal morphology are acquired in Welsh-speaking bi-SLI and bi-TD children. The present results point towards productivity problems for Welsh-speaking bi-SLI children who are adversely influenced by low-frequency structures and fail to over-regularize in the context of verbal and nominal concatenating morphology. From a clinical perspective, targeting synthetic past-tense forms through a prompting task may be a promising assessment and intervention tool that future studies could explore further.

Preschool-Age Male Psychiatric Patients With Specific Developmental Disorders and Those Without

Specific developmental disorders of speech, language, and motor function in children are associated with a wide range of mental health problems. We examined whether preschool-age psychiatric patients with specific developmental disorders and those without differed in the severity of emotional and behavior problems. In addition, we examined whether the 2 groups differentially benefited from child psychiatric family day hospital treatment. Data from (N = 78) preschool-age boys (27 with a developmental disorder and 51 without) were analyzed. Before and after treatment, child emotional and behavior problems were rated by parents on the German version of the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5–5 (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000; Arbeitsgruppe Deutsche Child Behavior Checklist, 2002) and by therapists on the German version of the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form for Ages 1.5–5 (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000; Arbeitsgruppe Deutsche Child Behavior Checklist, 2002). Results indicated small-to-moderate differences between groups in the severity of specific emotional and behavior problems, and there were hints that children without developmental disorders benefited more from treatment than those with developmental disorders. However, results depended clearly on the perspective of the informant, with mothers generally perceiving more treatment benefit and less group differences than therapists. Child psychiatric patients with additional developmental disorders differ slightly from children without additional developmental disorders in the severity of emotional and behavior problems. The evaluation of treatment appears to be more strongly influenced by the informant's perspective than by pretreatment group differences. Reasons for informant differences, especially the observed maternal optimism, may include treatment-related changes in maternal mood, increased parenting skills, and improvement of the mother–child interaction.

Specific developmental disorders of speech and language

Specific developmental disorders of speech and language

Comorbid mental disorders in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a large nationwide study.

The present study aimed at identifying the full range of mental disorders comorbid to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents (age 4-17) diagnosed in Danish psychiatric hospitals between 1995 and 2010. A total of 14,825 patients were included in the study and comorbid disorders diagnosed concurrent with ADHD were identified. Associations of comorbid disorders with sex, age, and other mental disorders were investigated by logistic regression analysis. In the total sample, 52.0% of the patients had at least one psychiatric disorder comorbid to ADHD and 26.2% had two or more comorbid disorders. The most frequent comorbid disorders were disorders of conduct (16.5%), specific developmental disorders of language, learning and motor development (15.4%), autism spectrum disorders (12.4%), and intellectual disability (7.9%). Male sex was generally associated with an increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders while female sex was associated more frequently with internalizing disorders. The analysis of associations between the various comorbid disorders identified several clusters highlighting the differential developmental trajectories seen in patients with ADHD. The study provides evidence that comorbidity with mental disorders is developmentally sensitive. Furthermore, the study shows that particular attention should be given to patients with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and intellectual disability in future longitudinal analyses. These disorders are very frequent in patients with ADHD, and the affected patients might follow a different course than patients without these disorders.

A Follow-Up Study of Treated and Untreated Greek Adolescents with a History of Specific Developmental Language Disorder

Research has shown that specific developmental language disorders (SDLD) may develop over time into other impairments or disorders. For instance, children with these diagnoses often show learning, social adjustment or behaviour disorders in adolescence. On the other hand, many professionals claim that early intervention has a significant effect on these disorders. The question which arises is whether early intervention can forestall the development of these more serious consequences in adolescence. The aim of this study is to examine adolescents who had been diagnosed with SDLD in childhood and who had attended during their preschool years an Early Intervention Programme (EIP) within a Community Mental Health Centre. These adolescents’ outcomes are compared with those of adolescents who had also been diagnosed with SDLD, but who had not complied with therapy. The experimental group (N=44), now have a mean age of 13 years, whereas the control group (N=52), who had not accepted therapy, have a mean age of 14 years. The parameters which were investigated were school achievement, social and emotional adjustment, behaviour, language skills, and their parents’ attitudes. Statistical analysis shows that although some of the treated adolescents now exhibit learning difficulties, those who began their therapy before the age of 5 are presently showing significantly better concentration and behaviour than all the other groups. In conclusion, early intervention seems to be effective for children with SDLD and may restrict the appearance of more serious social adjustment and behavioural problems in adolescence. Keywords: social, behavioural, academic outcomes, SLI, early intervention, adolescence. Read more →

Early literacy skills in Latvian preschool children with specific language impairment

The present study explores differences in early literacy skills of Latvian preschool children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) compared to children from general population. The participants were 21 children with diagnosis of Specific developmental disorders of speech and language (F80; ICD-10) and 21 children as matched control group (in each group: mean age=79 months, 88% boys). Both samples were selected from the adaptation and standardization study of Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS Next) in Latvia (Good & Kaminski et al., 2011; Latvian version, Rascevska et al., 2013a). The results show significant differences between two groups in DIBELS Next composite score (t=3.09, p<.01), First Sound Fluency (t = 2.54, p<.05), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (t = 2.80, p<.01), Correct Letter Sounds (t = 3.38, p<.01) and Whole Words Read (t = 3.39, p<.01) from Nonsense Word Fluency. Phoneme awareness represented by first sound and phoneme segmentation fluency and phonological decoding observed during nonsense word reading was poorer for the SLI group, albeit letter naming did not differ in both groups. No differences in letter naming might be explained due to intensive instruction the children with SLI are receiving in their institution of special education, while children from general population might not have this enhanced support.

Parents’ estimates of quality of life of children with specific developmental language disorders

Parents’ estimates of quality of life of children with specific developmental language disorders

Spezifische Sprachentwicklungsstörungen

MethodsThirty-three children with diagnosed specific developmental disorders of speech and language and 33 healthy controls matched for age and gender were compared based on their cognitive performance. In this study, a German test for cognitive functions in preschoolers (KET-KID) and a test for nonverbal intellectual abilities (CPM) were used. The aim of the study was to determine possible comorbid disabilities in children with specific developmental disorders of speech and language.ResultsHaving normal nonverbal intellectual abilities, the children with specific developmental disorders of speech and language showed significant impairments in articulation, auditory memory, spatial perception, and visual construction compared with the controls.ConclusionChildren with specific developmental disorders of speech and language show an increased risk for impairment in other cognitive domains. Delayed lateralization development related to cerebral maturation, as well as the associated graphomotor deficits, could have consequences for school performance. Therefore, these children should be tested as early as possible and should receive additional support if required.

Clinical neuropsychiatric correlates and EEG findings among children with developmental disorders in Lagos, Nigeria

Developmental disorders with or without associated neuropsychiatric complications continue to be one of the major health problems in Africa. The grossly inadequate management/ rehabilitative facilities further worsen this. A prospective study aimed at finding the types of developmental disorders and associated neuropsychiatric complications among children aged </=15 years that presented with developmental disorder in the study centers over 36 month study duration. The study was carried out in the paediatric and child psychiatric clinics as well as the Electroencephalographic (EEG) unit of two major health facilities in Lagos, Nigeria: Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos. For each subject, socio-demographic data was obtained and appropriate clinical evaluation was carried out to obtain the necessary data and clinical diagnoses. Furthermore, each of the subjects had waking EEG recording using 20-channel computerized Medelec(R)EEG machine. The EEG interpretation was blinded to the clinical history of the subjects. Overall, one hundred and eleven (111) subjects were evaluated over the 36 month study period. The cohort was made up of 63 (56.8%) males and 48 (43.2%) females. The mean age was 4.8 (+/-3.9) years, with most subjects falling in the age group of 0-5 years(69.4%). Mixed specific developmental disorders were most common (55%) followed by that of specific developmental disorders of speech and language (34.2%). Forty-one (36.9%) subjects suffered from one or more types of complications, with seizure, 22(19.8%) being the most common. The waking EEG recording was normal in 22 (19.8%) subjects; while abnormal epileptiform activities were found in 85 (76.6%) of recordings. No statistically significant relationship existed between EEG abnormalities and the factors of age and clinical diagnoses (i.e developmental abnormalities). The small number of subjects in this study is a major hindrance to drawing a general conclusion. However, it has been shown that a number of the cohort in addition to their developmental disorders suffered from such complications as seizures, hyperactivity etc. Furthermore, a significant proportion had EEG abnormalities of the epileptiform types possibly reinforcing the previously known fact of prevalent subtle brain damage among African children. The need for preventive health care is therefore emphasized.