Assessing aspects of early social communication in non-speaking children with bilateral cerebral palsy

Figures & data

Table 1. Functional ability profile of children with CP.

	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV	Level V
GMFCS	0	0	0	14	18
MACS	0	0	2	12	18
CFCS	0	1	5	7	19
Speech	0	2	6	24	n.a.*

GMFCS: Gross Motor Function Classification Scale [13]; MACS: Manual Ability Classification System [14]; CFCS: Communication Function Classification System [15]; Viking Speech Scale [16].

*The Viking Speech Scale uses four levels only.

Table 2. Mean, range and standard deviation (SD) chronological age, non-verbal age, and language age equivalent for each group.

	Chronological age (months)			Non-verbal age (months)^a			Language age (months)^b
	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD
CP	88	40–145	30	28	9–54	8	28	15–57	11
DS	90	49–123	22	26	10–39	8	27	15–45	10
Aut*	102	65–168	29	26	17–42	13	21	15–33	7

^a Mullen Scales of Early Learning [21].

^b Pre-school Language Scales. – 4th Edition UK [22].

* Autism.

Table 3. Distribution of performance on functional gaze control tasks.

	Gaze Fixation (maximum score = 10)			Gaze Transfer (maximum score = 8)*
	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD
CP	8.8	5–10	1.5	3.3	1–4	0.79

* n = 30.

Table 4. The mean, standard deviation (SD) and range of scores on the joint attention and social responsiveness tasks by group.

	Social communication (maximum score = 28)			Joint attention (maximum score = 14)			Social responsiveness (maximum score = 14)
	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD	Mean	Range	SD
CP	14.9	3–25	6.51	6.91	1–12	3.17	8.0	2–14	4.10
DS	19.1	5–25	5.46	9.69	4–13	2.79	9.44	1–13	3.14
Aut*	8.78	4–16	4.09	4.44	0–11	3.32	4.33	1–8	2.12

* Autism.

Figure 1. The mean social communication score by group (CP, DS, autism)*.

*A jittered scatter plot is presented to represent overlapping data points.

Scatter plot showing distribution of social communication scores. CP group scores are spread across the full range of possible scores. DS group scores are high. Autism group scores are low.

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