Premium
Voice, speech and language characteristics of children with Prader‐Willi syndrome
Author(s) -
Akefeldt A.,
Åkefeldt B.,
Gillberg C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.1997.tb00713.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , audiology , linguistics , medicine , philosophy
Abstract Eleven individuals with Prader‐Willi syndrome (PWS), aged between 4 and 25 years, were compared with 1 1 non–PWS children of the same sex, age, body mass index and IQ level. Voice, speech and language skills were generally impaired in subjects with PWS. Oral motor function, pitch level and resonance were specifically disordered and clearly differentiated the two groups from each other. Certain biological perinatal factors separated subjects with PWS from other obese children and adolescents, but did not differentiate within the group with PWS and could not account for the speech/language problems. Underlying cerebral dysfunction, combined with a characteristic anatomy of the mouth and larynx in PWS, contributes to altered voice, speech and language function.