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Assessment of speech and language skills in children
M Jennische1, G Sedin, B Johnsen
1Department of Pediatrics, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden.
Insights
This study presents a new speech and language assessment for children aged 6.5 years who experienced neonatal intensive care. The tool evaluates various language skills in a single session to detect developmental deviations.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology
- Neonatal Follow-up Care
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Children requiring neonatal intensive care (NIC) are at risk for speech and language impairments.
- Early identification and intervention are crucial for improving outcomes in this population.
- Existing assessment tools may not comprehensively evaluate the broad spectrum of language skills in a single session.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a comprehensive speech and language assessment procedure for 6.5-year-old children with a history of neonatal intensive care.
- To create a tool that can be administered in one examination session.
- To characterize a wide range of language skills and detect deviations in language development.
Main Methods:
- The assessment procedure consists of three parts: spontaneous speech evaluation (Part A), specific speech and language skills assessment (Part B), and parental interview (Part C).
- Part A involves a 10-15 minute conversation assessing eight variables of conversational behavior.
- Part B includes auditory discrimination, auditory-speech motor interaction, comprehension, vocabulary, word fluency, and fine motor tasks.
- Part C gathers parent-reported information.
Main Results:
- The developed assessment procedure provides a comprehensive overview of speech and language skills in a single session.
- It allows for the detection of deviations in language development among children with a history of neonatal intensive care.
- The protocol is currently being applied for follow-up examinations at Uppsala University Hospital.
Conclusions:
- The new assessment procedure is effective for evaluating speech and language skills in children with a history of neonatal intensive care.
- It facilitates early detection of potential developmental delays, enabling timely intervention.
- This tool supports the ongoing follow-up of high-risk children.
Abstract:
A speech and language assessment procedure was developed to study different aspects of speech and language skills in children 6.5 years old who had needed intensive care in the neonatal period. It was required that the procedure could be carried out at one examination session and that it should characterize a broad spectrum of language skills and permit detection of deviations in language development. The assessment comprises three parts. Part A is an evaluation of the child's spontaneous speech during a 10- to 15-minute conversation between the child and the assessor. Eight different variables are assessed, and an overview of the child's conversational behaviour is obtained. Part B is an assessment of speech and language skills. A set procedure is used to assess auditory discrimination, interaction between auditory and speech motor capacity, different comprehension functions, vocabulary and word fluency. Some motor tasks are included to elucidate the relationship between speech and non-linguistic fine motor activity. Part C is an interview with the parents. A control group of 40 children was tested. The assessment protocol is now being applied for follow-up examination of children who have needed neonatal intensive care at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden.