The aim of this study was to examine the consonant-vowel co-occurrence patterns predicted by the Frame-Content theory in 16 nine-month-old babies with unrepaired cleft palate ([plus or minus]cleft lip) and 16 age-matched non-cleft babies. Babble from these babies was phonetically transcribed and grouped according to the intrasyllabic predictions…

A basic tenet of developmental neurobiology is that certain areas of the cortex will re-organize, if appropriate stimulation is withheld for long periods. Stimulation must be delivered to a sensory system within a narrow window of time (a sensitive period) if that system is to develop normally. In this article, we will describe age cut-offs for a…

Floating-Harbor syndrome is a rare congenital disorder characterized by specific facial features, short stature associated with significantly delayed bone age and language impairment. Although language delay is a cardinal manifestation of this syndrome, few reports describe the specific language difficulties of these patients, particularly the…

The review, intended to provide speech-language pathologists and special educators with an awareness of genetics and specific syndromes involving speech, language, and hearing components, discusses basic etiologies of abnormal development and selected syndromes (such as Down's and Klinefelter's) that include communication disorders. (CL)

The 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome is a genetic disorder in children with many concomitant medical and developmental problems. Communication disorders are among the most common features of this syndrome and include articulation, language, resonance, and voice problems. Awareness of these features and a multidisciplinary approach are necessary for…

The FG syndrome is characterized by unusual facies; sudden infant death; developmental delay; and abnormalities of the cardiac, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. Serial evaluations of one case with isolated agenesis of the corpus callosum found consistent patterns over time in specific language impairments in syntactic and…

The study of relationships among maternal behavior, child language, and location of congenital structural anomalies with 24-month-old children (21 with speech related anomalies (SRA), 45 normal controls, and 13 with non-speech-related anomalies. Mothers of SRA children showed more physical teaching, initiating, and attention management behaviors…

Stickler syndrome is an autosomal dominant multisystem disease. The four most affected systems are craniofacial, skeletal, ocular, and auditory. The manifestations of Stickler syndrome vary considerably among affected individuals. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists should be familiar with the characteristics associated with Stickler…

Vocal samples were collected from a child with cri du chat syndrome from the age of 8 to 26 months. Analyses indicated that the high vocal fundamental was characteristic of comfort state vocalizations of the child. There was a predominance of falling intonation contours and limited interutterance variation of fundamental frequency, and phonetic…

This study examined articulation in 13 Dutch individuals (ages 7-29, IQs 38-83) with Prader-Willi syndrome using a picture naming test with transcribed samples subjected to analyses for articulation errors. Results suggest that the impaired articulation found is a function of IQ and that with increasing age, phonological problems gradually resolve…

This literature review addresses studies of speech, language, and communication skills evidenced by children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects. Concomitant physical, behavioral, intellectual, and learning patterns are reviewed, and symptoms presented by alcohol-exposed children are compared to those seen in other…

A survey of 128 females (ages 2-58) with Turner syndrome found almost one quarter were receiving or had received treatment for stuttering, articulation problems, and/or delayed language development, with the latter two disorders being checked most frequently. Only 4 or the 68 individuals receiving growth hormone treatment reported voice changes.…

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is reported in 1 in 10,000-15,000 individuals. Unfortunately, many cases are missed due to clinicians' lack of familiarity with the syndrome as well as clinical and laboratory diagnostic criteria. Although common clinical characteristics are reported, variety exists in the nature and severity of dysfunction associated…

Twenty-seven American Indian children (ages 4-12), 10 with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and 17 normally developing control subjects, were administered the Test of Language Development. FAS children exhibited depressed performance on most subtests. The older FAS children presented syntactic deficits whereas the younger FAS subjects presented more…