Morphosyntactic development in very preterm children diagnosed with a Speech Sound Disorder

Abstract

Background: Approximately 1% to 2% of children are born very preterm (VP) (Gestational Age (GA) below 32 weeks). Studies concluded that VP children perform significantly poorer compared to full term (FT) children on language tests. VP children with a Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) might be at a greater risk of developing a language delay. More insight into the grammatical development of VP children with SSD, and the association between the grammatical and speech sound development in these children, might help design an effective early intervention which may improve long-term outcomes. Aim: To describe the morphosyntactic development in VP children diagnosed with SSD and to explore the relation between the phonological and morphosyntactic development. Methods: An observational, prospective study of twenty VP children diagnosed with SSD. Morphosyntactic development was analysed using ‘Grammaticale Analyse van Taalontwikkelingsstoornissen’ (GRAMAT). GRAMAT provides an overview of the most frequently used morphosyntactic structures of typically developing children between the ages of one and four years old. In this study the morphosyntactic structures of VP children at 2;0-2;6 years of corrected age were described. The relationship between linguistic outcome measures was studied. Results: GRAMAT-analyses showed many inadequacies and a morphosyntactic delay of at least half a year in VP children with a SSD for the particular age-group of 2;0 – 2;6 year. Statistical analyses showed that phonological proficiency is related to morphological complexity. Conclusion: The nature of the speech and language problems of VP children of this particular age-group can be compared to the speech and language problems of FT children. To obtain an overview of the morphosyntactic structures for the remaining GRAMAT age-groups and the relation with phonological development, a longitudinal design is needed to ensure an effective intervention is provided which may improve long-term outcomes.