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Semin Speech Lang 1998; 19(1): 71-81
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1064037
© 1998 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Acquired Neurologic Deficits in Young Children: A Diagnostic Journey with Dora

Joan C. Arvedson1 , Denise M. Simon2
  • 1Speech-Language-Hearing Department, Children's Hospital of Buffalo; Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Social Sciences, Buffalo, New York
  • 2Speech-Language-Hearing Department, Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
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Publication Date:
15 May 2008 (online)

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ABSTRACT

Young children with limited communication abilities are often difficult to diagnose. When a neurologic insult occurs prior to language development, the communication effects tend to be less predictable than when the same event occurs in an older child or in an adult with a history of “normal” language use. Information in the medical chart regarding status during prelinguis-tic periods for cognition, motor, and verbal function should be helpful in predicting outcomes in some instances, but a series of decisions, over time, are likely to be necessary to reach a definitive communication diagnosis. As children become more verbal, the characteristics of the motor speech system can lead to new or changing diagnoses.

KEY WORDS

motor-speech - pediatric - neurologic deficit