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Children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and pragmatic language impairment: differences and similarities in

Pernille Holck1, Ulrika Nettelbladt, Annika Dahlgren Sandberg

  • 1Department of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. pernille.holck@med.lu.se

Research in Developmental Disabilities
|March 3, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) and spina bifida (SBH) show similar pragmatic language skills. These groups, along with pragmatic language impairment (PLI) children, have overlapping challenges, particularly in memory and inference.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Clinical Child Psychology

Background:

  • Pragmatic language abilities are crucial for social interaction.
  • Understanding pragmatic deficits in clinical populations like cerebral palsy (CP), spina bifida (SBH), and pragmatic language impairment (PLI) is essential.
  • Previous research suggests distinct profiles for these conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare pragmatic abilities across three clinical groups: children with CP, SBH, and PLI.
  • To explore the relationships between pragmatic, linguistic, and cognitive variables within these groups.
  • To identify similarities and differences in pragmatic functioning.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 10 children aged 5-11 years from each of the three clinical groups (CP, SBH, PLI) participated.
  • A comprehensive battery of pragmatic, linguistic, and cognitive assessments was administered.
  • Statistical comparisons were made between groups, and inter-variable correlations were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Significant similarities and a lack of clear boundaries were observed between the CP, SBH, and PLI groups.
  • All groups exhibited difficulties with short-term memory and inference, though to varying degrees.
  • Differential patterns of variance suggested that grammatical reception, inferential comprehension, and lexical comprehension uniquely influence pragmatic abilities in each group.

Conclusions:

  • Children with CP and SBH demonstrated shared pragmatic traits, appearing more similar than previously suggested.
  • The findings challenge distinct group categorizations and highlight overlapping pragmatic challenges.
  • A revised approach to pragmatic assessment, distinguishing social and linguistic components, is recommended.

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