Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: language deficits in children post-treatment

Abstract

The language abilities of a group of 22 children (aged between 5 years and 17 years, 9 months) treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were investigated and compared with those of a group of non-neurologically impaired, age- and sex-matched controls. The language test battery included an age-appropriate measure from the Test of Language Development (TOLD) series, consisting of either the Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL--2), or the Test of Language Development--Intermediate or --Primary (TOLD--I or --P); the timed subtests of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Function (CELF); the Boston Naming Test; and one of either the Token Test or the Token Test for Children, depending on the age of the subject. As a group, the leukaemia subjects performed significantly worse than the controls on the TOAL--2, TOLD--I, TOLD--P, Token Test, and Boston Naming Test. The need for post-treatment monitoring of the language abilities of children treated for ALL to enable early remediation of areas of deficit is highlighted.

Indices of Language Outcome 11 Years After Intrathecal Chemotherapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Sibling Case-Control Study

“…Some studies have reported that the N400 varies across the life span where the N400 is inversely correlated with age, with larger N400 amplitudes found in children than in adults and the elderly [56,57]. However, given Gonzalez-Garrido et al's [58] findings that showed no differences in N400 amplitude or latency amongst children of [7][8][9][10], and 11-12 years of age, it would be expected that, despite the age difference, the N400 between ACB and his sibling would be comparable.…”

“…The importance of language skills to maximizing success in academic, social, and vocational engagement is recognized [4][5][6][7], as is the importance to language skills of the cognitive environment in which the child develops [16]. The current understanding of the impact upon language skill development of CNS-directed treatments administered for ALL is based on treatment protocols with reduced contemporary relevance [8][9][10][11] or based on findings where control cohorts have not been matched on important environmental variables known to strongly influence developmental language outcomes [12]. The present pilot study, the first survivor-focused language study to apply the deconfounding principle by using a sibling as a control, identified comparable language skills between a child treated with ITC 11 years prior and his non-ITC-treated sibling.…”

The Impact of a Cerebellar Tumour on Language Function in Childhood

“…Subsequent to treatment, increasing evidence of intracranial changes may escalate over time, which in turn has the opportunity to impact language function to a greater extent [8,26,31] . The potential for even further decline is indicated by these preliminary results associated with increases in time subsequent to treatment completion reported by Hudson et al [8] .…”

Speech Pathology Services to Children With Cancer and Nonmalignant Hematological Disorders

“…Children with cancer and nonmalignant hematological disorders (NMHDs) may present with swallowing/feeding dysfunction (eg, dysphagia affecting the oral and pharyngeal phase of the swallow, sensory impairment, behavioral feeding issues) and communication disorders (eg, receptive and expressive language, speech, pragmatics/social language, voice, resonance, stuttering, literacy) that require speech pathology (SP) support (Cornwell, Murdoch, Ward, & Kellie, 2003; Goncalves, Radzinsky, da Silva, Chiari, & Consonni, 2008; Kirk, Howard, & Scott, 1995; Kuruvilla, Perry, Wilson, & El-Hakim, 2009). These disorders may be premorbid, related to lengthy hospitalization, or associated with the child’s cancer or hematological diagnosis (Abramson, Berdon, Ruzal-Shapiro, Stolar, & Garvin, 1993; Ferlito, Rinaldo, & Marioni, 1999; Freeman & Farmer, 1998; Habermann, Kiesler, Dornbusch, & Friedrich, 2000; Ozyar, Cengiz, Gurkaynak, & Atahan, 2005), or treatments and treatment side effects (Buttsworth, Murdoch, & Ozanne, 1993; Docking, Murdoch, & Suppiah, 2007; Epstein et al, 2002; Morgan, Sell, Ryan, Raynsford, & Hayward, 2008; Otmani, 2007; Pollack, Polinko, Albright, Towbin, & Fitz, 1995).…”