Background: prematurity as a risk factor for delay in language development. Aim: to verify the performance of premature children regarding their receptive and expressive auditory and visual abilities. Method: participants were 40 children with chronological ages between 12 and 24 months. The experimental group (G1) was composed by 20 children who presented report of prematurity and low or very low weight. The birth age varied from 22 to 34 weeks and weight was below 2500gr. This group was divided according to weight, i.e. children with low and very low weight. The control group (G2) was composed by 20 children born at term, with weight above 2500gr and with no report of development delay. The procedures consisted of an interview with the parents and the application of the Early Language Milestone Scale -ELM. Results: when comparing the groups, the results indicate statistically significant differences. Children of G1 presented a poorer performance in the Expressive Hearing (EH), Receptive Hearing (RH) and Visual (V) areas, although a few children of this group presented the expected results for their age group in some of the tested abilities. The expressive auditory ability was the most affected. Conclusion: children of G1 presented deficits in the expressive and receptive auditory and visual functions. Premature children with very low weight presented higher deficits in the tested abilities. Key Words: Premature; Child Development; Child Language; Language Disorders. ResumoTema: prematuridade como fator de risco para atraso no desenvolvimento da linguagem. Objetivo: verificar o desempenho de crianças prematuras quanto às áreas auditiva receptiva, expressiva e visual. Método: participaram da amostra 40 crianças de idade cronológica entre 12 e 24 meses. O grupo experimental (G1) foi composto por 20 crianças que apresentaram em seu histórico de vida os fatores de risco prematuridade e baixo peso ou muito baixo peso. A idade gestacional das crianças variou de 22 a 34, semanas todas com peso abaixo de 2500g; este grupo foi dividido em função do peso, ou seja, crianças de baixo peso e de muito baixo peso. O grupo controle (G2) foi composto por 20 crianças nascidas a termo com peso superior a 2500g, sem histórico para atraso do desenvolvimento. Os procedimentos constaram de entrevista com os pais e aplicação da Escala Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM). Resultados: na comparação entre grupos, os resultados mostraram ser estatisticamente significativos. As crianças do G1 apresentaram prejuízo na área auditiva expressiva, auditiva receptiva e visual, embora algumas crianças tivessem apresentado resultados esperados para sua faixa etária, em alguma das funções avaliadas. A área mais prejudicada foi a área expressiva. Conclusão: as crianças do G1 apresentaram alteração nas áreas auditiva receptiva, auditiva expressiva e visual. As crianças prematuras com muito baixo peso apresentaram maiores prejuízos nas áreas avaliadas.

RESUMOObjetivo: verificar o desempenho de habilidades do desenvolvimento linguístico, cognitivo, motor, de autocuidados e socialização em crianças prematuras. Métodos: participaram 30 crianças nascidas prematuras, de ambos os sexos de seis a 24 meses. Os procedimentos de avaliação constaram de uma entrevista de anamnese e da aplicação do Inventário Portage Operacionalizado (IPO) (Wilhiams & Aiello, 2001). As crianças foram divididas em dois grupos, conforme a faixa etária, para análise estatística dos dados, considerando as idades de seis a 11 meses e de 12 a 24 meses. A análise dos dados foi realizada por meio da aplicação do teste Manny-Whitney comparando os valores obtidos no grupo de crianças prematuras com escores previstos para crianças típicas. Resultados: os resultados indicam que a área mais defasada do grupo na faixa etária de seis a 12 meses foi à linguística e autocuidados e na faixa etária de 12 a 24 meses as áreas mais defasadas foram linguística, cognitiva e de autocuidados. Conclusão: ressalta-se a necessidade de um acompanhamento rigoroso de recém-nascidos prematuros, por meio do desenvolvimento de programas de acompanhamento e por uma equipe multidisciplinar para promover a detecção e intervenção precoce, minimizando assim o impacto de problemas no desenvolvimento global destas crianças.

The Neonatal Screening for Inborn Errors of Metabolism of the Association of Parents and Friends of Special Needs Individuals (APAE) - Bauru, Brazil, was implanted and accredited by the Brazilian Ministry of Health in 1998. It covers about 286 cities of the Bauru region and 420 collection spots. Their activities include screening, diagnosis, treatment and assistance to congenital hypothyroidism (CH) and phenylketonuria (PKU), among others. In 2005, a partnership was established with the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Bauru, seeking to characterize and to follow, by means of research studies, the development of the communicative abilities of children with CH and PKU. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe communicative and psycholinguistic abilities in children with CH and PKU. Materials and Methods: Sixty-eight children (25 children aged 1 to 120 months with PKU and 43 children aged 1 to 60 months with CH) participated in the study. The handbooks were analyzed and different instruments were applied (Observation of Communication Behavior, Early Language Milestone Scale, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Gesell & Amatruda's Behavioral Development Scale, Portage Operation Inventory, Language Development Evaluation Scale, Denver Developmental Screening Test, ABFW Child Language Test-phonology and Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities), according to the children's age group and developmental level. Results: It was observed that the children with PKU and CH at risk for alterations in their developmental abilities (motor, cognitive, linguistic, adaptive and personal-social), mainly in the first years of life. Alterations in the psycholinguistic abilities were also found, mainly after the preschool age. Attention deficits, language and cognitive alterations were more often observed in children with CH, while attention deficits with hyperactivity and alterations in the personal-social, language and motor adaptive abilities were more frequent in children with PKU. Conclusion: CH and PKU can cause communicative and psycholinguistic alterations that compromise the communication and affect the social integration and learning of these individuals, proving the need of having these abilities assisted by a speech and language pathologist.

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between sleep disorders and the behavior of subjects with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and control subjects using specific questionnaires. A small percentage (1.8%) of the control subjects had symptoms indicative of sleep-breathing disorders (SBD) and nocturnal sweating. Fifty-nine percent of the subjects with ASD had symptoms indicative of at least one sleep disorder, with SBD the most commonly reported (38%). In the control group, the symptoms of SBD were correlated with social, thought, attentional, aggression, externalizing and behavioral problems. In the ASD group, disorders of arousal (DA) were correlated with thinking problems, and disorders of excessive somnolence were correlated with thinking and behavioral problems. These results suggest that children and adolescents with ASD have a high frequency of sleep disorders, which in turn correlate with some of the behavioral traits that they already exhibit. Furthermore, sleep disturbances, when present in the typically developing children, also correlated with behavioral problems.

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the children with D-CP and with suggestive signs of PVL presented deficits in the psycholinguistics abilities, justifying the need of additional studies in this area in order to investigate the development of these abilities.

A global developmental delay is expected from Down syndrome, affecting motor, cognitive, linguistic and personal-social skills. However, not always these delays are proportional; different conditions occur due to several intrinsic and extrinsic variables that must be controlled to form groups of greater homogeneity. Objective To enhance personal-social, fine motor-adaptive, gross motor and linguistic skills among children with Down syndrome and compare them with typically developing children, matched for gender, socioeconomic status and mental age, while controlling some variables that interfere with the global development.Methods The ethical aspects were fulfilled (Case No. 040/2009). The following inclusion criteria were considered: participants without a history of prematurity, very low birth weight, congenital hypothyroidism, significant hearing and vision problems, and signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder. After the inclusion criteria were considered, 40 children participated in the study, of which 20 had Down syndrome (experimental group - EG), these being of both genders and with chronological ages ranging from 38 to 63 months, and the other 20 being typically developing children (control group - CG), matching the EG in terms of gender, socioeconomic status and mental age, with this age ranging from 13 to 50 months. The evaluation consisted in applying the Denver Developmental Screening Test II, a test that assesses areas such as personal-social, fine motor-adaptive, linguistic and gross motor development. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using Student’s t-test.Results A statistically significant difference was verified between the groups for the language and fine motor-adaptive areas.Conclusion Children with Down syndrome showed lower performance in language and fine motor skills when compared with typically developing children. There was no statistically significant difference in gross motor and personal-social areas. It is worth mentioning the importance of controlling the variables to deal with more homogeneous groups.

The adapted Pecs proved to be effective in improving the subject's communication abilities.