| 1. |
- Cederlund, Mats, 1962, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-schoolchildren with autism spectrum disorders are rarely macrocephalic: A population study.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Research in developmental disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 35:5, s. 992-998
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Numerous clinical studies over the past decades have concluded that there is an association between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and large head size. Lately, some studies have reported conflicting results. The present study was conducted with a view to assess the presence of macrocephaly in a community-representative group of pre-school children with ASD. The prevalence of ASD in this general population was 0.8%. Thirty-three children (5 girls, 28 boys) recruited after general population screening for ASD, and diagnosed with ASD (two-thirds not globally delayed) were assessed as regards growth parameters; height, weight, and head circumference (HC), at birth and at comprehensive medical-psychiatric diagnostic examinations at a mean age of 3 years. Macrocephaly in the present study was defined as HC above the 97th percentile, and ≥2 SD above recorded length/height. Only one of the 33 children (3%) had macrocephaly which is similar to the general population prevalence. Another 9% had a big but proportional head. None of the children were microcephalic. In this community-based study we found no evidence to support a strong link between a large head size and ASD. Conclusions must be guarded because of the relatively small number of ASD cases included.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, Mårten, et al.
(författare)
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Problems and limitations in studies on screening for language delay.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Research in Developmental Disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 31:5, s. 943-950
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study discusses six common methodological limitations in screening for language delay (LD) as illustrated in 11 recent studies. The limitations are (1) whether the studies define a target population, (2) whether the recruitment procedure is unbiased, (3) attrition, (4) verification bias, (5) small sample size and (6) inconsistencies in choice of "gold standard". It is suggested that failures to specify a target population, high attrition (both at screening and in succeeding validation), small sample sizes and verification bias in validations are often caused by a misguided focus on screen positives (SPs). Other limitations are results of conflicting methodological goals. We identified three such conflicts. One consists of a dilemma between unbiased recruitment and attrition, another between the comprehensiveness of the applied gold standard and sample size in validation and the third between the specificity of the gold standard and the risk of not identifying co-morbid conditions.
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| 3. |
- Hagberg, Bibbi, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Clinic attenders with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: cognitive profile at school age and its relationship to preschool indicators of language delay.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Research in Developmental Disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 0891-4222. ; 31:1, s. 1-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have had early indicators of language delay. The aim of the present study was to examine the cognitive profile of school age children referred to a specialist clinic for ASD, ADHD, or both, and relate this profile specifically to the age at which these children were first flagged up (or not) as suspected from language delay during the preschool years. Forty clinic children with ASD, ADHD, or the combination of the two (without clinical suspicion of learning disability) were assessed cognitively and as regards language development and language function at a mean age of 7.3 years. They were contrasted with a group of 21 children from the community who had been flagged at 2.5 years as suspected of language delay, and who had been followed up neuropsyhiatrically/neuropsychologically and in respect of language at a mean age of 7.9 years. Mean WISC-III full scale IQ was lower than population norms (in spite of the exclusion in both samples of cases with obvious learning disability) and similar across diagnostic groups (ASD and ADHD), and across settings (clinic and community). WISC-III Kaufman factor profiles separated the diagnostic groups as regards Perceptual Organisation. Early concern about language delay was a strong predictor of lower IQ and of distinguishing between "pure" cases of ASD and ADHD. School age clinic children who present with ASD and ADHD have a similar cognitive and early language development profile as do those children from the community, followed prospectively, who present with a suspicion of early preschool language delay and are shown at school age to suffer from ASD or ADHD. Concern about early language delay in the preschool age should prompt assessments (psychiatric and cognitively) for ASD and ADHD in a multidisciplinary setting much more often than is currently the case. In many cases early language delay, even in the absence of clear learning disability should be taken as a signal that - regardless of specific diagnosis - intellectual functioning might be in the low average range.
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| 4. |
- Kantzer, Anne-Katrin, et al.
(författare)
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Autism in community pre-schoolers: Developmental profiles.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Research in developmental disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 34:9, s. 2900-2908
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism is often a complex developmental disorder. The aim of the present study was to describe the developmental characteristics of 129 1-4-year-old children (102 boys, 27 girls) referred for clinical assessment (mean age 2.9 years) due to suspicion of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after community screening at Child Health Care centers. All children were clinically assessed at the Child Neuropsychiatry Clinic (CNC) in Gothenburg by a research team (neurodevelopmental examination, structured interviews and general cognitive and language examinations). Of the 129 children, 100 met diagnostic criteria for ASD (69 with autistic disorder, and 31 with atypical autism/pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified). The remaining 29 children had a variety of developmental disorders, most often attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), language disorder, borderline intellectual functioning, and intellectual developmental disorder (IDD) with (n=25) or without (n=4) autistic traits (AT). IDD was found in 36% of the 100 children with ASD, and in 4% of the 25 children with AT. Of the children with ASD, 56% had language disorder with no or just a few words at the initial assessment at the CNC, many of whom in combination with IDD. Hyperactivity was found in 37% of those with ASD and in 40% of those with AT. Epilepsy was found in 6% of the total group and in 7% of those with a diagnosis of ASD. Of the latter group 11% had a history of regression, while none of the AT cases had a similar background. When results were compared with a non-screened preschool ASD group of 208 children, referred for ASD intervention at a mean age of 3.4 years, very similar developmental profiles were seen. In conclusion, early community ASD screening appears to systematically identify those children who are in need of intervention and follow-up.
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| 5. |
- Miniscalco, Carmela, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Basic reading skills in Swedish children with late developing language and with or without autism spectrum disorder or ADHD.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Research in Developmental Disabilities. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-3379 .- 0891-4222. ; 31:5, s. 1054-1061
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reading skills at age 7-8 years were examined in a community-representative sample of 21 screened and clinically examined children with language delay (LD) followed prospectively from 2.5 years of age. The present study aimed to (1) determine whether these children with a history of LD had deficits in basic reading skills, i.e. decoding and comprehension, compared to the age norms of standardized tests, (2) analyze if there was a relationship between reading outcome and neuropsychiatric diagnosis by comparing three subgroups of children, LD pure, LD+ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and LD+ADHD, and, (3) determine what language measures at age 6 years were associated with the 7-8-year reading outcome. Both decoding and comprehension of single word reading were significantly below the norm for the whole LD group, where children with LD+ASD scored lowest, and children with LD highest. However, the differences between the three groups did not reach significance. Two reader groups were identified according to the results of word decoding and comprehension, respectively, resulting in the same 7 children. ANOVA revealed that the only differences on the 6-year language tests between the two groups were found on color naming and word memory. This study has shown that children with LD and subsequently identified neurodevelopmental problems such as ASD and ADHD experience continued deficits, demonstrated also in reading skills and that the picture of the reading problems seemed to resemble those of typically developing children.
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| 6. |
- Miniscalco, Carmela, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Imitation (rather than core language) predicts pragmatic development in young children with ASD: a preliminary longitudinal study using CDI parental reports
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822. ; 49:3, s. 369-375
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Research in the last decades has clearly pointed to the important role of language and communicative level when trying to understand developmental trajectories in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Aims: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether (1) core language skills, measured as expressive vocabulary and grammar, and/or (2) pre-linguistic social-communicative skills, including gestures and imitation abilities, drive pragmatic language development in young children with ASD. Methods & Procedures: We examined correlates and longitudinal predictors of pragmatic growth in a sample of 34 children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), whose parents were given parts of twoMacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories (CDI: Words & Gestures and CDI: Words & Sentences) for completion at two time points (at time 1 the mean child age was 41 months, and at time 2 it was 54 months). A novel feature in this study is that the relevant parts from both CDI forms were included at both time points, allowing us to examine whether pre-linguistic social-communication skills (e.g. imitation and gesturing) and/or core language skills (i.e. grammar and vocabulary) predict pragmatic language growth. Outcomes & Results: The results show that basically all pre-linguistic, linguistic and pragmatic skills were associated concurrently. When controlling for possible confounders and for the autoregressive effect, imitation skills predicted pragmatic growth over time, whereas core language did not. This could only have been shown by the use of both CDI forms. Conclusions & Implications: This preliminary study may be of both conceptual and methodological importance for research in the field of language and communication development in ASD. Imitation may play a pivotal role in the development of subsequent conversational pragmatic abilities in young children with ASD. Future research should be directed at unravelling the mechanisms underlying this association.
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| 7. |
- Miniscalco, Carmela, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Meaning what you say? Comprehension and word production skills in young children with autism.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. - : Elsevier BV. - 1878-0237 .- 1750-9467. ; 6:1, s. 204-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thirty-one, representative, one- to three-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were given the MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory (CDI) for parent completion and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales III (RDLS) for assessment by a speech and language pathologist. Correspondence across scales was good to excellent, indicating that parents of children with ASD can often be trusted in their report on children's language and communication abilities. The children had considerably better word production than comprehension and gesture skills, which is a pattern that is reversed in comparison with typically developing children. These findings suggest that children with ASD who have some spoken language may well be overestimated on the basis of superficially (at least relatively) good word production skills.
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| 8. |
- Nordberg, Ann, et al.
(författare)
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Consonant production and overall speech characteristics in school-aged children with cerebral palsy and speech impairment.
- 2014
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Ingår i: International journal of speech-language pathology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1754-9515 .- 1754-9507. ; 16:4, s. 386-95
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate the speech characteristics of school-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment at various cognitive levels. Nineteen children with a mean age of 11;2 years (9;2-12;9 years) with spastic, dyskinetic, and ataxic CP and speech impairment participated. Phonetic transcription of oral consonants, ratings of hypernasality, and severity of overall dysarthria, together with free field descriptions of respiration, voice quality, and prosody, were performed independently by two speech-language pathologists. The non-verbal cognitive level was also studied. More than half of the children had large problems with the articulation of consonants, and the children with ataxic CP were most affected. The majority was rated as having dysarthria, mostly mild, but hypernasality was rare. Gross motor problems were not significantly associated with the articulation of consonants or the severity of dysarthria, whereas non-verbal cognitive level was. This underlines the importance of taking non-verbal cognitive level into account, when designing individual speech treatment programs for this group of children. Finally, a careful examination of the articulation of consonants is recommended in order to study speech production thoroughly in children with CP.
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| 9. |
- Nordberg, Ann, et al.
(författare)
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Speech problems affect more than one in two children with cerebral palsy: Swedish population-based study.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Acta Paediatrica. - : Wiley. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 102:2, s. 161-166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AIM: To describe speech ability in a population-based study of children with cerebral palsy (CP), in relation to CP subtype, motor function, cognitive level and neuroimaging findings. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 129 children (66 girls, 63 boys) with CP, born in 1999-2002, was carried out. Speech ability and background information, such as type of CP, motor function, cognitive level and neuroimaging data, were collected and analysed. RESULTS: Speech disorders were found in 21% of the children and were present in all types of CP. Forty-one per cent of the children with speech disorders also had mental retardation, and 42% were able to walk independently. A further 32% of the children were nonverbal, and maldevelopment and basal ganglia lesions were most common in this group. The remaining 47% had no speech disorders, and this group was most likely to display white matter lesions of immaturity. CONCLUSION: More than half of the children in this CP cohort had a speech disorder (21%) or were nonverbal (32%). Speech ability was related to the type of CP, gross motor function, the presence of mental retardation and the localization of brain maldevelopment and lesions. Neuroimaging results differed between the three speech ability groups.
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| 10. |
- Palle, Nanna, et al.
(författare)
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The effectiveness of phonological intervention in preschool children: a single-subject design study.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Logopedics, phoniatrics, vocology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1651-2022 .- 1401-5439. ; 39:1, s. 19-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose was to investigate an intervention model for treating preschool children with phonological processes. Six children, three girls and three boys, between 4y 1m and 5y 7m, with similar developmental phonological disorder (PD) received an individually adjusted intervention including articulatory, phonological, and meta-phonological approaches. A single-subject multiple-baseline design with /f/ and /s/ as target phonemes and velar plosives and /r/ as control phonemes was used. An improved production of the treated phonemes was found in five of the children, while one girl established /f/ but not /s/. The control phonemes remained unchanged for all children. Six to 18 therapy sessions were needed to reach the intervention goal. The study highlights the importance of considering heterogeneity in children with PD.
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