Purpose: Our purpose was to start examining clinical swallowing and motor speech skills of school-age children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) compared to typically developing children (TDC), how these skills relate to each other, and whether they are predicted by clinical/demographic data (age, birth history, lesion type, etc.). Method:…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of socioeconomic deprivation on language and developmental outcomes in toddlers with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP ± L). Other factors known to influence language outcomes were also considered, including home language history, history of hearing problems, syndromic…

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a genetic, degenerative disorder, in which individuals become unable to engage in typical motor activities, including speech. The outcome for the most common type of SMA (Type 1), has previously been death before the age of 2, but new medical improvements are showing promising results for life longevity. Research has…

The aim of this study was to develop a coding scheme that enables researchers and practitioners to conduct a detailed analysis of the communicative behavior of young children with significant cognitive and motor developmental delays. Currently, there is a paucity of methods to do conduct such an analysis. For the study, video observations of three…

Objective: The aim of the study was to conduct a meta-analysis of research examining the early speech and language functioning of young children, birth to age 8;11 (years;months), with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) compared to their peers without NSCL/P. Method: We conducted a random-effects metaregression using 241 effect sizes…

Purpose: This case-control study sought to determine if (a) children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), other speech sound disorders (SSDs), and typical development would perform differently on a procedural learning assessment and (b) whether grammatical ability would impact group differences. Method: Communication, motor, and procedural…

Purpose: The present clinical focus draws on an intrinsic case study to provide a thick description of the communication profile of John, a 9-year-old minimally verbal autistic student. Method: Specifically, traditional behavioral assessments, classroom video observations, and semistructured interviews were used to gather information regarding…

The ability to use written language to communicate receptively (i.e., reading) and expressively (i.e., writing) is important in school, work, and independent living. Students who struggle early with reading have difficulty catching up with their peers as they move through school and in academic areas that rely on reading proficiency. Individuals…

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a conversation-based intervention on the expressive vocabulary and grammatical skills of children with severe motor speech disorders and expressive language delay who use augmentative and alternative communication. Method: Eight children aged from 8 to 13 years participated in the study.…

Background: Research regarding expressive language performance in children born with cleft palate is sparse. The relationship between articulation/phonology and expressive language skills also needs to be further explored. Aims: To investigate verbal competence in narrative retelling in 5-year-old children born with unilateral cleft lip and palate…

In this article Carolyn Blackburn who is currently project officer for the Training and Development Agency for Schools and Teresa Whitehurst who is a research and development officer at Sunfield School in Worcestershire discuss how educationalists are being required to support an increasing number of children with new and emerging disabilities…

Guanidinoacetate methyltransferase (GAMT) deficiency is a disorder of creatine biosynthesis, characterized by early-onset learning disability and epilepsy in most affected children. Severe expressive language delay is a constant feature even in the mildest clinical phenotypes. We report the clinical, biochemical, imaging, and treatment data of two…

Reported were data concerned with research and development of communications systems for persons with motor handicaps. An experiment on receptive communication which attempted to determine whether tactual information could be acquired simultaneously by several fingers indicated that superior performance resulted when patterns were scanned by one…

Microcomputers can serve as expressive communication tools for severely physically disabled persons. Features such as single input devices, direct selection aids, and speech synthesis capabilities can be extremely useful. The trend toward portable battery-operated computers will make the technology even more accessible. (CL)