Verbal dyspraxia in treated galactosemia

Galactosemia is an inborn error of metabolism that causes life-threatening illness a few days after galactose-containing milk is fed to a newborn. Early treatment with a strict lactose-free diet results in rapid improvement, and, until recently, it was thought that the long-term prognosis in such infants was usually good. The speech characteristics of 24 patients treated for galactosemia were examined. Fifty-four percent had the specific speech disorder, verbal dyspraxia. This finding was not related to age at diagnosis, severity of symptoms in the newborn period, or to biochemical control. There may be, however, a relation between dyspraxia and diminished IQ scores observed in the group of patients with dyspraxia judged as "severe." The findings indicate the association of a specific and unusual speech defect with a specific and rare metabolic disorder.