engleski

Speech and language disorders in adolescents with cerebral palsy: comparing language profiles with MRI findings

Except for the impairment of motor skills, children with cerebral palsy are at a considerable risk for different kinds of speech and/or language disorders. However, in some children the speech and language outcome is significantly better than in others. The factors crucial for final outcome are still not sufficiently known. The purpose of this study is to examine the long-term impact of perinatal brain lesions on later speech, language and communicative development in children with cerebral palsy. Additionally we aim to explore the relationship between established language profiles and lesions parameters (localization, distribution, onset time and size of lesion). The subject group is comprised of 21 adolescents, aged 13 to 16 years, diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 2. All of them suffered from perinataly sustained periventricular/intraventricular hemorrhage (PVH, IVH) and/or periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). In all the subjects a late MRI scan was performed at the adolescent age. Receptive and expressive language skills were evaluated by various language tests. Different language aspects (phonology, morphology, semantics) were assessed in order to obtain information about general linguistic level. In addition, working memory capacity and reading skills were also part of the analysis. In five non-speaking children, receptive vocabulary and communication skills were estimated. The results of the linguistic examination will be analyzed with respect to the major pathological MRI findings (destruction/reduction of cerebral white matter, demyelination, ventriculomegaly, lesions of gray matter and altered cortical organization).

Speech disorders; Language disorders; Cerebral palsy; Magnetic resonance imaging

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