Multidisciplinary speech and language therapy approach in a child with multiple disabilities including blindness due to retinopathy of prematurity: a case study with a one year follow-up

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to show speech and language, sensory-motor, and emotional progress after one year of therapy according to the needs of and resources for a child with multiple disabilities and blindness due to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: A 45-month-old boy was examined by a multidisciplinary team and assessed using the Sensory Profile 2, The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale II, The Communication Matrix, and The Scale for Evaluation of Psychophysiological Abilities of Children Aged 0–7. After a year of daily individually adopted speech and language therapy followed by supplementary therapeutics method, based on a multidisciplinary approach, the child was reassessed using the same battery of tests.

Results: The obtained results might indicate the importance of factors such as a multidisciplinary approach, individualization, communication pathways, therapist’s characteristics, and trust when working with children with multiple disabilities.

Conclusion: Taking into account all the features of multiple disabilities during the treatment course, continuous monitoring, modification, and adaptation of applied therapy method proved successful in this case.

Keywords:

• retinopathy of prematurity
• multidisciplinarity
• speech and language therapy
• blindness

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgment

This research was funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of The Republic of Serbia.

Ethical approval

The research in this study were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić” (No. 72/11). Parents’ informed written consent was obtained for using the child’s data, which was in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, NS, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

T

his work was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of The Republic of Serbia within the project “Influence of psychophysiological, sociological, and cultural factors on speech and language in the child population”. This project is realized in cooperation with the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac.

Notes on contributors

Slavica Maksimović

Slavica Maksimović is Research Associate at the Institute for Research and Development "Life Activities Advancement Centre," and Head of the Polyclinic Service at the Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology "Đorđe Kostić" in Belgrade. Her primary research interests involve studying different risk factors that influence the healthy overall growth, development, learning, and well-being of infants and toddlers.

Nina Stanojević

Nina Stanojević is Research Assistant at the Institute for Research and Development "Life Activities Advancement Centre" in Belgrade. She is a Ph.D. candidate within the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Her research interest is directed to cognitive neurosciences in the field of speech and language disorders and early diagnostics of verbal communication disorders.

Saška Fatić

Saška Fatić is Research Assistant at the Institute for Research and Development "Life Activities Advancement Centre" in Belgrade. She is a Ph.D. candidate within the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. Her research interest is directed to cognitive neurosciences in the field of speech and language disorders and early diagnostics of verbal communication disorders.

Silvana Punišić

Silvana Punišić is Research Associate the Institute for Research and Development "Life Activities Advancement Centre" and Head of the Polyclinic’s Admission department at the Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology "Đorđe Kostić" in Belgrade. A large area of her scientific work represents articulation disorders in the Serbian language seen from articulation, acoustics, and auditory aspects.

Tatjana Adamović

Tatjana Adamović is Research Associate at the Institute for Research and Development "Life Activities Advancement Centre," and Head of the Unit within the Polyclinic Service at the Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology "Đorđe Kostić" in Belgrade. Her research interests relate to the study of brain systems that support speech and language, cognitive, sensorimotor, and socio-emotional progress in children with typical and atypical development, from birth to preschool age. In her research projects, within the multidisciplinary team, she works extensively on infants and toddlers.

Nenad Petrović

Nenad Petrović is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Medical Sciences. He has a specialization in ophthalmology, and he is engaged in clinical work at the Clinic of Ophthalmology, Clinical Center Kragujevac.

Vanja Nenadović

Vanja Nenadović is Research Assoociate at the "Life Activities Advancement Centre." Her research work relates to cognitive neuroscience in the field of developmental disorders.