Comunicação alternativa e ampliada e o desenvolvimento intelectual de crianças e adolescente com paralisia cerebral no Brasil

Children and adolescents with cerebral palsy and devoid of effective communication may also have their intellectual development impaired. The goal of this research was to assess the intellectual development of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) and complex communication needs in a special school in Brazil based on their reliance on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Fifteen individuals with cerebral palsy (mean age: 11y3m ± 2y9m) were assessed: nine of them relied on AAC (6 males, 11y9m ± 3y4m) and six did not (3 males, 10y6m ± 1y6m). Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices – Special Scale (CPM) were used for the intellectual evaluation. Individuals who relied on AAC reached a mean of 25.89 those who did not 5.83 (p=0.012). There was a significant difference, in this cohort, between the intellectual development of those who used AAC and those who did not.