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Background: Prevalent environmental risk factors place infants in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) at an increased risk for feeding and developmental difficulties. Aim: This study aimed to determine the relationship between feeding and developmental outcomes in infants, as early feeding difficulties may have a cascading effect on developmental outcomes and vice versa. Methods: Data on 144 infants’ feeding and development [mean age (standard deviation) = 8.8 months (2.2)] from a primary health care clinic in Gauteng, South Africa were retrospectively analysed. Results: Early introduction of cup feeding was found to be a predictor of possible expressive language and articulation difficulties. Gagging, spitting, or vomiting, pocketing, the use of force feeding, and poor sucking and chewing abilities were significantly associated with behavioural and social–emotional difficulties. Breastfeeding was found to be a protective factor for language development. The results emphasise the importance of primary prevention and early identification of risks in late infancy in LMIC.

Facial muscle weakness from paralysis or muscle dystrophy can significantly affect lip strength and function. Lip muscle weakness may result in articulation difficulties and spillage of food, both of which are socially and functionally disruptive for patients. There are few quantitative data on the effect of facial paralysis on lip strength.To quantify the effect of facial paralysis and muscular dystrophy on lip strength and evaluate the effectiveness of targeted lip injection augmentation.Analysis of patients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital between January 1, 2008, and July 31, 2014, presenting for treatment of lip incompetence due to facial paralysis and facial muscular dystrophy was prospectively undertaken. Patients who had undergone direct surgical lip procedures were excluded.Lip pressure measurements, anterior bolus spillage, and articulation of bilabial sounds before and after treatment were assessed by a single speech pathologist. Lip pressures were measured with the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument.Twenty-two patients with unilateral facial paralysis were evaluated for this study. Three patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy were also evaluated. In unilateral facial paralysis, central lip strength was reduced in all patients compared with sex-corrected normative data (mean [SD] central lip strength, 5.5 [2.5] kPa in females and 9.6 [4.6] kPa in males). Compared with the nonparalyzed side, labial strength on the paralyzed sided was reduced by 69%. After injection augmentation of the paralyzed side, labial strength improved across the entire lip. Mean lip strength improved by 0.7-fold in the central lip from 5.60 to 9.30 kPa (P = .009), by 1.4-fold on the paralyzed side from 2.2 to 5.33 kPa (P = .006), and by 0.4-fold on the unaffected side from 7.11 to 9.56 kPa (P = .12). Lip strength in the 3 patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy were uniformly reduced across the entire lip and improved by 6- to 7-fold after injection augmentation. All patients were noted by the speech pathologist to have improved articulation of plosive sounds and decreased anterior bolus spillage after the injection.Labial strength is reduced across the lip in patients with unilateral facial paralysis. The Iowa Oral Performance Instrument is an effective tool for measuring labial strength and can be use to evaluate the effectiveness of facial reanimation procedures. Injection augmentation of the lip is a simple and effective means of improving labial strength, bilabial sounds, and anterior spillage in patients with facial paralysis or facial muscular dystrophy.3.

Questionnaires elicited information from speech and language therapists (SLTs) working in Scotland about individuals they had treated with Electropalatography (EPG) between 1993 and 2003. The results showed that the majority of the group (n = 60) who had received EPG therapy during this period were school-age children with either functional articulation disorders or cleft palate. The sounds most frequently targeted in EPG therapy were /s/, /s/, /t/ and /d/. The (SLTs) judged that the majority of the group had improved their articulation to some extent and almost all had increased awareness of their own articulation difficulties following EPG therapy. Despite these gains, most experienced difficulties generalizing new patterns into everyday speaking situations. The results suggest that when using EPG, SLTs need to adopt specific strategies to promote generalization and maintenance.

The acoustic vowel space, usually defined by the area enclosed by the corner vowels in an F1‐F2 plot, may have some use as a general index of speech severity in various types of speech disorders. In this presentation, vowel space data will be reviewed for a number of different speech disorders, and the issue of the role of vowel space measurements in understanding both the underlying speech production deficit, as well as deficits in speech intelligibility, will be considered. Vowel space estimates, it will be argued, are in large part a gross estimate of speech motor control deficit. This is in contrast to a view of vowel space estimates as direct predictors of, say, specific aspects of segmental articulation difficulties or componential aspects of speech intelligibility deficits (for example, the extent to which vowel problems predict a speech intelligibility deficit). Some suggestions for future work, including extensions of the vowel space concept to include planar estimates of formant motion, will be presented. [Work supported by NIH.]

This study explored the relationship between phonology and syntax by examining the development of regular past tense endings in relation to the acquisition of the final consonant clusters needed to encode them correctly. Forty children between three and six-years-old were tested in their mastery of the past tense ending. Four groups of ten subjects, formed on the basis of degree of mastery, were then tested in their ability to produce final consonant clusters in words with the past tense ending and words without the past tense ending. It was proposed that articulation of clusters would be poorer in words with the morphological ending and that children with better mastery of the morphological ending would experience less articulation difficulties when encoding this form. However, it was found that the presence of the past tense inflection had no significant effect on articulation. Furthermore, children with better mastery of past tense were not significantly better at encoding this form than were those wit...

Summary: Isolated aphasia with associated EEG epileptiform activity is a recognized syndrome in children. The relationship of the EEG abnormality and the type and severity of the speech impairment has not been well described. This relationship was studied in two children with severe expressive and receptive aphasia with generalized spike-wave discharges on EEG using prolonged EEG FM radiotelemetry and video recording (TEEG-VR). Speech was compared with 10 children with absence seizures with similar EEG abnormalities also evaluated using TEEG-VR. In addition. 43 cases of aphasia with epileptiform activity on the EEG reported in the English literature were reviewed. Speech abnormalities in absence seizures consisted of speech arrest. decreased speed of speech, and brief periods of partial or complete receptive and expressive aphasia, always directly associated with a spike-wave ictus. Speech abnormalities in acquired or congenital aphasia were not related to epileptiform activity and were characterized by severe articulation difficulties. syntactic transformation, paraphasia, and receptive and expressive aphasia. Anticonvulsants did not alter speech. Based on these two cases and the 43 others reviewed in the literature, it is proposed that epileptiform activity in this syndrome is an epiphenomenon reflecting underlying abnormalities of speech areas rather than the cause of the aphasia. RESUME Une aphasie isolee, associee a une activite EEG epileptiforme constitue un syndrome reconnu en pediatric Mais les relations qui existent entre les anomalies EEG et le type ou la severite des troubles du langage n'ont pas ete bien definies. Nous avons etudie ces relations chez deux enfants presentant une aphasie d'expression et de reception severe et des decharges de pointe-ondes generalisees; ils ont ete enregistres en telemfrie et en video (TEEG-VR) leur langage a ete compareea celui de dix enfants etudiees eux aussi en TEEG-VR presentant des absences associees aux memes anomalies EEG. De plus ont ete passes en revue 43 cas d'aphasie avec EEG epileptiforme publies dans la litterature de langue anglaise. Les troubles du langage pendant les absences consistent en arret du langage. ralentissement du debit verbal et breves periodes d'aphasie de reception et d'expression, partielle ou complete, directement associees aux decharges de pointe-ondes. Les troubles du langage dans les aphasies acquises ou congenitales ne sont en rien relies aux decharges epileptiformes et sont caracterises par d'importantes difficultes d'articulation, de transformation syntactique. de paraphasie et d'aphasie de reception ou d'expression. Les medicaments antiepileptiques n'alterent pas le langage. En se basant sur leurs deux cas et sur 43 cas de la litterature, les auteurs proposent que I'activiteepileptifome dans le syndrome en question soit consideree comme un epiphenomene temoignant d'anomalies au niveau de la zone du langage plutot que comme la cause de L'aphasie. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die isolierte Aphasie mit begleitender epileptiformer EEG-Aktivitat ist ein wohl bekanntes Syndrom bei Kindern. Die Beziehungen zwischen EEG-Abnormitat und dem Typ sowie der Schwere der Sprachstorung ist nicht gut beschrieben worden. Diese Beziehung wurde bei 2 Kindern mit schwerer expressiver und rezeptiver Aphasie und generalisierten spike-wave Entladun-gen im EEG mit Hilfe einer prolongierten EEG-Radiotelemetrie und von Videoaufnahmen (TEEG-VR) untersucht. Die Sprache wurde verglichen mit 10 Kindern mit Absencen bei ahnlichen EEG-Abnormitaten, die auch mit Hilfe des TEEG-VR ausgewertet wurden. Zusatzlich werden 43 Falle von Aphasie mit epileptiformer Aktivitat im EEG, die in der englischen Literatur publiziert wurden, durch-gesehen. Sprachstorungen bei Absencen bestanden in ‘speech arrest’, verminderter Sprachgeschwindig-keit und kurzen Perioden partieller und kompletter rezeptiver und expressiver Aphasie, die immer direkt mit einem spike wave Anfall verknupft waren. Sprachabnormitaten bei angeborener oder erworbener Aphasie hatten keine Beziehungen zu epileptiformer Aktivitat. Sie waren charakterisiert durch schwere Artikulationsstorungen, syntaktische Transfor-mationen, Paraphrasie und rezeptiver und expressiver Aphasie. Antikonvulsiva anderten die Sprache nicht. Auf der Basis dieser beiden berichteten Falle und der 43 anderen aus der Literatur wird angenommen, das die epileptiforme Aktivitat bei diesem Syndrom ein F. piphanomen darstellt, das eher die unterlagernde Abnormitat des Sprachzentrums widerspiegelt als den Grund der Aphasie. RESUMEN Afasia aislada junto con actividad epileptiforme en el EEG es un sfndrome reconocido en ninos. La rela-cion entre la anomalfa en el EEG y el tipo y severidad de la alteracion del habla no ha sido bien descrita. Esta relacion fue estudiada en dos ninos con una afasia ex-presiva y receptiva severa y descargas generalizadas de puntaonda en el EEG obtenido por medio de radio telemetrfa FM y video (TEEG-VR). Se compareo el habla con diez ninos con ausencias y anomalfas similares en el EEG en los que tambien se uso la TEEG-VR. Se revisaron ademas 43 casos con afasia y anomalfas epileptiformes en el EEG que habian sido descritos en la literatura inglesa. Las anomaifas del lenguaje en las ausencias consistieron en parada del habla y breves episodios de afasia receptiva o expresiva, parcial o completa, asi como disminucion en la velocidad de la palabra. Esto estuvo siempre en relacion con descargas paroxfsticas de punta-onda. Las anomalias del habla en la afasia congenita o adquirida no se relacionaron con actividad epileptiforme. Caracterizandose por dificultades severas de la articulacyon, transposicion sintactica, parafrasia y afasia receptiva y expresiva. Basandose en los 2 casos y en los 43 re-visados de la literatura se propone que la actividad epileptiforme vista en este sfndrome es un epifenomeno que refleja anomalfas subyacentes del area del habla, mas que la causa misma de la afasia.