Article

The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the relationship between
feeding-swallowing difficulties (FSDs) and later language impairments in children. METHOD: Retrospective analyses were carried out using the clinical
files of 82 children with language impairments from a large urban rehabilitation
center. Two subgroups of these children were established: children with motor
impairments, referred to as the language impairment with motor impairment
('LI+MI') subgroup (n=23, mean age 4y 6mo, SD 8.7mo), and children without motor
impairments, referred to as the language impairment without motor impairment
('LI-MI') subgroup (n=59, mean age 5y, SD 8mo). The prevalence of food
selectivity, difficulties in sucking, salivary control issues, and food
transition difficulties was extracted. Data were compared with a general
population estimate of FSDs. RESULTS: FSDs were documented in 62% of the clinical
files; 87% of these files were from the LI+MI subgroup and 53% were from the
LI-MI subgroup. Among each subgroup of children with language impairments, the
prevalence of FSDs was significantly higher than the general population estimate
of 20% (LI+MI:chi(2) =55.965, df=1, p<0.001; LI-MI: chi(2) =32.807, df=1,
p<0.001). Furthermore, the prevalence of FSDs was significantly higher in
children with language impairments and motor impairments than in those with
language impairments but without motor impairments (chi(2) =6.936, df=1, p<0.01).
Both food transition difficulties (chi(2) =14.99, df=1, p<0.001) and salivary
control issues (chi(2) =5.02, df=1, p=0.02) were more frequent in the LI+MI
subgroup than in the LI-MI subgroup. Combinations of two or more FSDs were also
more frequent in the LI+MI subgroup than in the LI-MI subgroup (chi(2) =4.19,
df=1, p=0.04). INTERPRETATIONS: These findings suggest that early FSDs may be
used as a potential marker for language impairment. However, larger prospective
studies are needed to confirm this.
CI - (c) 2015 Mac Keith Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS