Speech and language performance of brain-injured children

Abstract

The speech and language performance of three groups of brain-injured children, a closed-head injured (CHI) group, children treated for posterior Fossa tumour (PFT), and children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), was compared to a matched control group. The subjects were administered a battery of speech and language assessments including general measures of motor speech abilities, and speaking and listening performance, as well as specific skills tests in the domains of confrontation naming and verbal fluency. Performance of the experimental groups was compared with that of a control group matched for age, sex and educational level. Results indicated that all areas of language competence assessed appeared to be compromised by the various types of brain injury. With the exception of two members of the PFT group, motor speech skills appeared to be spared for all other experimental subjects.