Analysis of early speech development in prematurely born children with perinatal cerebral hypoxia

Context and relevance. The study of speech development in premature infants with perinatal perinatal brain damage is relevant due to the prevalence of perinatal pathology and the need to improve early care. Objective. To study the age-related parameters of early speech development and their relationship with other higher mental functions in premature infants with perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage, in order to optimize the system of early care. Hypothesis. Mental functioning in premature infants with the sequelae of perinatal hypoxic-ischemic CNS damage during early ontogenesis differs from the development of their typically developing peers and is associated with the quality of their speech functioning. Methods and materials. The neuropsychic development of 36 children aged 2 to 3 years, born between the 27th and 36th weeks of pregnancy, was assessed. Methods: Munich Functional Diagnostics of Development for Children of the Second and Third Years of Life; Neuropsychological Diagnostics of Preschool Children; MacArthur Test of Communicative Development in Young Children. The relationships were analyzed using correlation analysis: calculation of Spearman correlation coefficients. Results. A positive correlation was found between the “Neurodynamic and regulatory development” indicator and individual indicators of mental development from the scales of the speech questionnaire "MacArthur Test of Communicative Development in Young Children": “Number of spoken words” (rp = 0,648, p ≤ 0,001), “The child begins to change words (as a child changes verbs and nouns)” (rs = 0,588, p ≤ 0,001), “Age of morphological development” (rp = 0,772, p ≤ 0,001). It was revealed: the higher the “Neurodynamic and regulatory development” indicator, the better the studied indicators of expressive speech development. Conclusions. Early speech development in children with the consequences of perinatal post-hypoxic lesions of the central nervous system differs from the speech indicators of typically developing peers.

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