Drug and alcohol in pregnancy and stuttering - a speech-language pathology case report

Abstract

Drug use during pregnancy is a well-known risk factor for the manifestation of speech--language disabilities. However, the necessity of studies directed towards drug use and its influence on interventional speech process in cases of alterations of child language and fluency is observed. In this study, clinical history data are presented as well as pre and post-assessment tests (Speech and Language) and the description of an interventional process of a six-year child. The main communication complaint about the child was stuttering. In addition to the child's clinical history, there was also knowledge of alcohol and legal and illegal drug use by the mother from before the moment of conception until this intervention process was reported. The protocols Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI), Child Language Test (ABFW): phonology, vocabulary, and fluency tests, along with the Checklist of Verbal Communication Skills were applied. Based on these assessments, the child was diagnosed with mild to moderate stuttering, phonological simplifications, vocabulary inferior to that expected for his age, difficulty maintaining communicative turns, simplified narrative skills, alterations in psycholinguistic processes, and complaints from the school about his learning. The child underwent speech therapy in the areas of fluency and Child Language (phonological approach), showing evolution in the post-intervention assessment. Thus, in the present case, it became clear that the concomitant use of alcohol with exposure to cigarettes and marijuana may trigger changes in the acquisition and development of language, fluency and, consequently, learning.