Delays in Infant Hearing Detection and Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Commentary

Early detection and intervention for congenital hearing loss are critical for speech and language development. Newborns should receive hearing screening, diagnosis, and intervention by 1, 3, and 6 months, respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays in each step of this process. Increased out-of-hospital births and shortages of essential health care services likely reduced the proportion of newborns completing screening. Additional factors have contributed to delayed diagnosis. We estimate that up to 50% of infants born with hearing loss in Maryland in 2021 may be delayed in diagnosis. Hearing loss interventions have been affected due to delayed initiation, reduced availability, and lack of in-person services. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of congenital hearing loss are likely to have significant effects on individual patients and public health, the full magnitude of which will not be known for years. Opportunities exist for providers to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19 on pediatric hearing health care.

Congenital Cytomegalovirus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Effects on Hearing, Speech and Language Development, and Clinical Outcomes in Children

Prenatal infections can have adverse effects on an infant's hearing, speech, and language development. Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are two such infections that may lead to these complications, especially when left untreated. CMV is commonly associated with sensorineural hearing loss in children, and it can also be associated with anatomical abnormalities in the central nervous system responsible for speech, language, and intellectual acquisition. In terms of speech, language, and hearing, HIV is most associated with conductive and/or sensorineural hearing loss and expressive language deficits. Children born with these infections may benefit from cochlear implantation for severe to profound sensorineural hearing losses and/or speech therapy for speech/language deficits. CMV and HIV simultaneously present in infants has not been thoroughly studied, but one may hypothesize these speech, language, and hearing deficits to be present with potentially higher severity. Early identification of the infection in combination with early intervention strategies yields better results for these children than no identification or intervention. The purpose of this review was to investigate how congenital CMV and/or HIV may affect hearing, speech, and language development in children, and the importance of early identification for these populations.

Orofacial myofunctional disorder characteristics in cerebral palsy and their treatment methods

Relevance. The variety of clinical manifestations of orofacial myofunctional disorders in cerebral palsy determines the need to improve diagnosis and treatment approaches. According to the authors, the planning of rehabilitation measures for children with cerebral palsy and orofacial pathology should be individual.Materials and methods. 120 children (mean age 8.7 years) with cerebral palsy and orofacial myofunctional disorders participated in the study with subsequent assessment of dental and neurological statuses during treatment, prevention and rehabilitation.Results. The study established correlations between general motor pathology, malocclusion and changes in the speech organs depending on the clinical form of cerebral palsy. Spastic dysarthria and anarthria were detected in 82 cases, age-appropriate speech and language development - in 38. Occlusion assessment revealed malocclusion in 88 subjects, neutral occlusion – in 32.Conclusions. Modern approaches to the treatment of malocclusion and orofacial myofunctional disorders in children with cerebral palsy allow increasing the effectiveness and quality of rehabilitation, organizing the sequence and continuity of specialist actions in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team.

„Dziecko w skorupie”. Ograniczenia w nabywaniu mowy i języka przez jednostki z zaburzeniami ze spektrum autyzmu

“Child in a shell”. Limitations in the speech and language acquisition of children with autism spectrum disorders. Speech as audible communication is achieved due to the knowledge of a language. Speech acquisition does not always proceed smoothly and without any problems. Deviation from the proper development of speech is seen in the case of children with disorders of the development of speech and language, among whom children with characteristic autism spectrum disorders constitute a considerable group. The inability of using speech for communication is characteristic of this group of children. The article presents limitations in acquiring speech and language by children with autism as well as ways of opening them up to the world through the development of communication. Keywords: language, autism, speech and language development disorders

A Systematic Review of Parent Training for Children with Communication Disorders in Korea

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review the research trends in regards to parent training and the speech and language development of children with communication disorders in Korea, to evaluate the effectiveness of parent training for improvement of children’s communication skills, and to provide evidence-based directions for parent training.Methods: A search of 4 databases, and manual searching resulted in the identification of 1,222 relevant articles in domestic journals. The 19 articles published from 2001 to 2020 in domestic journals were selected according to the Participants, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes (PICO) criteria. Three authors did article selection, data extraction, and quality assessment using the Risk of Bias for Nonrandomized studies (ROBANS).Results: First, the quality of selected articles was high overall. Second, very few studies have empirically examined the effectiveness of parent training intervention on the speech and language development of children with communication disorders. Third, most programs have been provided for mothers and no program focused on supporting fathers. Most programs focused on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with communication disorders. Fourth, regarding studies on research type and method of data collection; most studies were conducted by experimental study. Lastly, areas of measurement involved participant interactions, development, parent perceptions, and parent experiences. The research studies reported positive effects of parent training intervention on the speech and language development of children with communication disorders.Conclusion: Based on these results, we discussed the limitations of identified studies and limitations of the current systematic review are discussed, as well as implications of the findings for research and practice for children with communication disorders regarding parent training intervention.

Penggunaan Gadget pada Anak: Hubungan Pengawasan dan Interaksi Orang Tua terhadap Perkembangan Bicara dan Bahasa Anak

Lack of supervision on gadgets can affect children's speech and language development, especially without interaction with parents. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between parental supervision and interaction with gadgets in children aged 4-5 years with the risk of speech and language development delays. The method used in this research is observational analytic. In analyzing the data, this study uses non-parametric statistical test Chi Square. The results of this study found that most respondents with speech and language development results are at risk of being late, rarely get supervision from their parents when using gadgets, namely, 23 respondents (79.31%), and most of the respondents' parents also said they did not interact when their children were using gadgets. gadgets as many as 23 respondents (79.31%). So that we get the results that there is a relationship between supervision (p value 0.001 < 0.05) and interaction (p value 0.000 < 0.05) of parents and children when using gadgets with children's speech and language development. Supervision and parental interaction on the use of gadgets in children are very important, considering the age of 4-5 years is included in the golden age where this period is a very sensitive developmental period because it will affect the future development of children. The findings in this study are expected to provide implications for parents to be able to increase supervision and interact with the use of gadgets in children.

The role of the district pediatrician in the early diagnosis of speech developmental disorders in preschool children

Speech and language are the most important means of communication between a child and the outer world. Currently in the Russian Federation there is no reliable data on the prevalence of speech and language disorders in children. According to foreign authors, speech disorders are diagnosed in 3,4–6,4% in the population of preschool children, and language disorders are diagnosed in 8–10% of cases. Early identification of the causes of speech and language development disorders in children is a complex interdisciplinary problem. The authors have developed an algorithm for diagnosing speech and language developmental disorders in preschool children, where the district pediatrician plays the leading role. It is district pediatrician who can assess the speed of the child’s speech skills development, based on age norms, analyze the history data, risk factors, carry out a physical examination of the child, develop an individual program for conducting basic laboratory and instrumental studies and consult specialists. Dynamic observation of this category of children is important.

Dialect Effects on Mandarin Tone Perception Development

This study aimed to characterize factors that influence early dialect development in a language environment with multiple dialects. Children were evaluated for these dialect effects compared with normal hearing referenced measures of speech and language development that are commonly implemented in hearing-impaired children. Dialect exposure and use were assessed longitudinally in Chinese children (2–6 years old) that were raised in a community where Putonghua (PTH) and Sichuanhua (SCH) Mandarin dialects were used. Lexical tones in these dialects are different. A total of 20 boys and 20 girls (2 years old at the beginning of the study) that attended the same nursery school were included in this study. SCH was used by the majority of subjects <4 years old. The majority of subjects >4 years old used either dialect, with a few users of both dialects at this age. PTH tone perception did not differ significantly as a function of dialect use. Tone recognition and discrimination were >90% accurate by 6 years old, in contrast to previous results for children with minimal exposure and use of PTH. Children with approximately ⩾50% PTH exposure might be accurately assessed with norm-referenced speech materials spoken in PTH, regardless of their preferred dialect. However, the current norm-referenced assessments of children with minimal PTH exposure and nonusers of the dialect might be inaccurate.

Music therapy for supporting communication development for young children with complex needs in a specialist conductive education service

<p>This research aimed to explore the ways in which I, as a music therapy student, could benefit speech and language development with children with complex needs in an early childhood service. Communication is one of the most important parts of our lives. It helps us to connect and build a relationship with others, families, friends and so on. Speech-language development is a core part in music therapy of Communication development for young children which aim to help children to express their inner feelings, emotions; to improve children’s understanding communication and interpret information from other people (Perry, 2003; Knight & Rabon 2017). This is theoretical exploratory research which contains various data from music therapy literature, music therapy audiovisual recordings in public domains, and reflective notes from general experience on placement. This research used a thematic analysis method. The data was interpreted in an open inductive way, discovering ideas and combinations of codes without assumptions, and finding new ideas from the sources. The data analysis method followed the guidelines of Braun & Clarke in 2006 which included six steps in the process: 1) familiarizing with data, 2) generating initial codes, 3) searching for themes, 4) reviewing themes, 5) defining and naming themes and 6) providing a report. This research found there were three main themes in response to the question how do music therapists support speech and language for young children. The most important fundamental process was “Building trust and familiarity” between therapist and child; the secondary theme or process was “Moving up together” which involved musical collaboration and enjoyment. Throughout these processes therapists used “flexible musical skills”. This exploratory study also helped me as a student music therapist to better understand how to facilitate and support speech and language development in my placement in a specialist conductive education facility.</p>