Speech Sound Development in Preterm Children Aged 3-4 Years: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric neurology
• Developmental pediatrics
• Speech-language pathology

Background:

• Preterm birth is associated with increased risks of neurodevelopmental delays.
• Speech sound disorders are a common challenge for children born prematurely.
• Early identification and intervention are critical for improving outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify speech sound development trajectories in preterm children.
• To examine clinical and developmental factors associated with speech sound abilities.
• To determine predictors of speech sound normalization in this population.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective longitudinal study of 80 preterm children.
• Speech sound development assessed using Percent Consonants Correct (PCC) at ages 3 and 4.
• Categorization into normal, abnormal, catch-up, and growing-into-deficit trajectory groups.

Main Results:

• Over half (51.3%) of preterm children showed abnormal speech sound trajectories.
• Abnormal trajectories were linked to sex, language intervention history, and language abilities.
• Percent Consonants Correct (PCC) scores correlated significantly with language quotients.

Conclusions:

• Preterm children face significant risks for persistent speech sound difficulties.
• Speech sound disorders in this group are closely related to overall language abilities.
• Universal monitoring and comprehensive language interventions are recommended due to a lack of identified normalization predictors.