Speech disorders in children treated for posterior fossa tumours: ataxic and developmental features

The oromotor and speech abilities of 19 children (14 boys and five girls) who had been treated for posterior fossa tumour were evaluated using three assessment procedures. All subjects completed the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment and the Fisher-Logemann Test of Articulation Competence. Perceptual analyses were also performed on the subjects' connected speech samples. Based on the three assessment procedures, 11 of the 19 tumour subjects were judged to be speech disordered. The 11 speech-disordered subjects were then compared to a control group matched for age and sex to determine the nature and severity of speech abnormalities which may occur subsequent to the treatment of posterior fossa tumour in childhood. Both developmental and dysarthric features were identified in the speech of the 11 tumour subjects. The deviant speech characteristics exhibited by the tumour subjects included imprecise consonants, excess stress and reduced intelligibility, as well as the retention of developmental phonological processes. These features are described in detail and discussed with reference to descriptive studies of adult dysarthria. An interaction between acquired and developmental disorders of speech is proposed.