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Accumulating evidence suggests that ultrasound visual feedback increases the treatment efficacy for persistent speech sound errors. However, the available evidence is mostly from English. This is a feasibility study of ultrasound visual feedback for treating distortion of Finnish [r]. We developed a web-based application for auditory-perceptual judgement. We investigated the impact of listener's experience on perceptual judgement and the intra-rater reliability of listeners. Four boys (10–11 years) with distortion of [r], otherwise typical development, partook in eight ultrasound treatment sessions. In total, 117 [r] samples collected at pre- and post-intervention were judged with visual analogue scale (VAS) by two listener groups: five speech and language therapists (SLTs) and six SLT students. We constructed a linear mixed-effects model with fixed effects for time and listener group and several random effects. Our findings indicate that measurement time had a significant main effect on judgement results, χ2 = 78.82, p < 0.001. Effect of listener group was non-significant, but a significant main effect of interaction of group × time, χ2 = 6.33, p < 0.012 was observed. We further explored the effect of group with nested models, and results revealed a non-significant effect of group. The average intra-rater correlation of the 11 listeners was 0.83 for the pre-intervention samples and 0.92 for post-intervention showing a good or excellent degree of agreement. Finnish [r] sound can be evaluated with VAS and ultrasound visual feedback is a feasible and promising method in treatment for distortion of [r], and its efficacy should be further assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delays in expressive vocabulary have been associated with lower outcomes in reading.Aim: The aim is to conduct a long-term follow-up study to investigate if early expressive vocabulary delay (late talking) predicts reading development in participants age 16 and under. We examine further if the prediction is different in the presence of family risk for dyslexia (FR) and early receptive vocabulary delay.Methods: Expressive and receptive vocabulary skills were assessed at the age of 2-2.5 years, and reading skills in Grades 2, 3, 8 and 9 (age 8-16). The longitudinal sample consisted of 200 Finnish-speaking children, of which 108 had FR for dyslexia and 92 came from families without reading difficulties. We compared the reading development of five subgroups: 1) FR and no vocabulary delay; 2) FR and late talkers, 3) FR, late talkers and co-existing receptive vocabulary delay; 4) no FR and late talkers; and 5) no FR and no vocabulary delay.Results: The group with FR and expressive and receptive vocabulary delay had difficulties in reading comprehension, but not in reading fluency. The late talkers without receptive vocabulary difficulties tended to become typical readers.Conclusions and Implications: Delays in early vocabulary can lead to a reading comprehension deficit, with the specification that expressive vocabulary deficit alone can alleviate in time, whereas the combined deficit is a stronger risk marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Speech/language, scholastic, and motor disorders are common in children. It is unknown whether exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy influences susceptibility to these disorders.Objective: To examine whether SSRI exposure during pregnancy is associated with speech/language, scholastic, and motor disorders in offspring up to early adolescence.Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective birth cohort study examined national population-based register data in Finland from 1996 to 2010. The sampling frame includes 845 345 pregnant women and their singleton offspring with data on maternal use of antidepressants and depression-related psychiatric disorders during pregnancy.Exposures: There were 3 groups of offspring: 15 596 were in the SSRI-exposed group, ie, had mothers diagnosed as having depression-related psychiatric disorders with a history of purchasing SSRIs during pregnancy; 9537 were in the unmedicated group, ie, had mothers diagnosed as having depression-related psychiatric disorders without a history of purchasing SSRIs during pregnancy; and 31 207 were in the unexposed group, ie, had mothers without a psychiatric diagnosis or a history of purchasing SSRIs.Main Outcomes and Measures: Cumulative incidence of speech/language, scholastic, or motor disorders (829, 187, and 285 instances, respectively) from birth to 14 years. All hypotheses tested were formulated before data collection.Results: Of the 56 340 infants included in the final cohort, 28 684 (50.9%) were male and 48 782 (86.6%) were 9 years or younger. The mean (SD) ages of children at diagnosis were 4.43 (1.67), 3.55 (2.67), and 7.73 (2.38) for speech/language, scholastic, and motor disorders, respectively. Offspring of mothers who purchased SSRIs at least twice during pregnancy had a significant 37% increased risk of speech/language disorders compared with offspring in the unmedicated group. The cumulative hazard of speech/language disorders was 0.0087 in the SSRI-exposed group vs 0.0061 in the unmedicated group (hazard ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.11-1.70; P = .004). There was a significantly increased risk of these disorders in offspring in the SSRI-exposed and unmedicated groups compared with offspring in the unexposed group. For scholastic and motor disorders, there were no differences between offspring in the SSRI-exposed group and in the unmedicated group.Conclusions and Relevance: Exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of speech/language disorders. This finding may have implications for understanding associations between SSRIs and child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this population-based study was to identify demographic factors for language delays at an early age. The risk analysis covered 11 biological and 8 environmental factors. The mothers' concerns regarding language development were also examined. A total of 226 children from a Finnish cohort study were invited to participate in language assessments at 36 months. The test results for word finding and language comprehension were compared with parental questionnaires about children's vocabulary at 13 and 24 months. Regression analysis revealed that the father's social class (t=-2.79, p=0.006) and working full time (t=-2.86, p=0.005) significantly predicted children's language delay. In addition, language comprehension was significantly predicted by the mother's social class (t=-2.06, p=0.041) and by gender, with an advantage to girls (t=-2.71, p=0.008). Vocabulary at 24 months was a powerful predictor for lexical development (t=4.58, p<0.0001) and language comprehension (t=4.85, p<0.0001) at 36 months. Mothers' concerns were correlated with children's limited lexicons as early as 24 months (r=0.31, p<0.0001) and poor language comprehension (r=-0.35, p<0.0001) at 36 months. Mothers were especially concerned if the parents needed special education during school years. At the population-level, gender was the most powerful biological factor in predicting language delays. Similarly, both parents' social status had predictive value for the child's language development. In addition, it was found that the mother's concern about her child's slow language acquisition should be taken into account when making decisions regarding special support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]