Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: language deficits in children post-treatment

Abstract

The language abilities of a group of 22 children (aged between 5 years and 17 years, 9 months) treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were investigated and compared with those of a group of non-neurologically impaired, age- and sex-matched controls. The language test battery included an age-appropriate measure from the Test of Language Development (TOLD) series, consisting of either the Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL-2), or the Test of Language Development-Intermediate or -Primary (TOLD-I or -P); the timed subtests of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Function (CELF); the Boston Naming Test; and one of either the Token Test or the Token Test for Children, depending on the age of the subject. As a group, the leukaemia subjects performed significantly worse than the controls on the TOAL-2, TOLD-I, TOLD-P, Token Test, and Boston Naming Test. The need for post-treatment monitoring of the language abilities of children treated for ALL to enable early remediation of areas of deficit is highlighted.

Key Words:

• Leukaemia
• language impairment