Developmental Courses in Childhood Dysarthria: Longitudinal Analyses of Auditory-Perceptual Parameters

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this longitudinal study was to describe developmental courses of childhood dysarthria against the background of typical speech motor development by collecting auditory-perceptual data. Method Fourteen children (four girls, 10 boys; 5;1–8;4 [years;months] at Time 1) with neurological conditions (CNC) and 14 typically developing children (CTD) matched for age and gender were assessed at three points in time over an 18-month period. Speech samples were collected using the Bogenhausener Dysarthrie Skalen–Kindliche Dysarthrien (BoDyS-KiD; in English: Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales–Childhood Dysarthria), a German tool for the assessment of childhood dysarthria, and analyzed by means of nine perceptual scales covering all clinically relevant speech components. Age normalization was performed according to a method published recently. Data from the matched controls were used to estimate whether the gradients of the CNC group's developmental trajectories exceeded those of typical development. Results The children with neurological conditions presented heterogeneous speech profiles with a wide range of severity. At the group level, relatively stable trajectories of the age-normalized dysarthria total score were found over the observation period. The nine perceptual scales showed more or less parallel developments. All patients except two followed the growth curve describing the developmental course of the typically developing children. Conclusions Most children took advantage of the developmental dynamics as they developed parallel to the age norm. With its comprehensive description of the developmental courses of 14 children with neurological conditions, this study may contribute to a more valid, statistically verified clinical assessment of the course of childhood dysarthria.

Assessment Practices of Speech and Language Pathologists for Cognitive Communication Impairment After Traumatic Brain Injury

“…A research reported that use of Robertson Dysarthria Profile for the assessment of the client has proven to be effective for speech improvements 20 . Moreover, a survey conducted in UK reports that out of 119 SLTs, 35.3% of them used Robertson Dysarthria Profile for the assessment and treatment of their clients with primary progressive Dysarthria followed by TBI 21 The sensitivity and specificity of the MoCA was found to be 80% and 30%, respectively. The attention sub-scale of the MoCA was also uniquely predictive of rehab success 22 .…”

Clinical Practice in Childhood Dysarthria: An Online Survey of German-Speaking Speech-Language Pathologists

“…Knowledge about the clinical picture and prognosis of childhood dysarthria is still emerging, with the majority of articles on which current knowledge is based being published over the last ten years (e.g. Allison & Hustad, 2018;Boliek & Fox, 2017;Haas et al, 2021;Hustad et al, 2019;Kuschmann & Lowit, 2021;Levy et al, 2021;Mei et al, 2014;Nordberg et al, 2013;Pennington, Roelant, et al, 2013;Schölderle et al, 2022). And as some of the most common textbooks on dysarthria do not yet consider children as a client group (English: Duffy, 2020;German: Ziegler & Vogel, 2010), it can be challenging for SLPs to acquire knowledge specific to childhood dysarthria.…”

“…Dysarthria usually manifests itself on all functionally relevant speech subsystems, that is, respiration, phonation, articulation and resonance, as well as prosody. As a result, perceptual deviations of speech features can occur to varying degrees in any one or several of these components, causing heterogeneous impairment profiles (Duffy, 2020;Haas et al, 2021;Workinger & Kent, 1991). As part of the dysarthric impairment, children's communication skills are also often impacted, e.g., through reduced intelligibility (e.g., Haas et al, 2022;Hustad et al, 2012;Mei et al, 2014).…”

Intelligibility, Articulation Rate, Fluency, and Communicative Efficiency in Typically Developing Children

“…Speech samples were collected using the assessment materials of the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales for Childhood Dysarthria (BoDyS-KiD; see Haas et al, 2021). BoDyS-KiD is an assessment tool for children with dysarthria that builds upon an approach established for adults, the BoDyS (see Ziegler et al, 2017).…”

“…BoDyS-KiD employs a computer game to collect samples of spontaneous speech and a set of repetition sentences (Haas et al, 2021;Schölderle et al, 2020). In particular, a frame story about Astrid Lindgren's "Michel aus Lönneberga," a character who is popular among German children, was used to elicit repetitions of a set of target sentences embedded in the story plot.…”