LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN PRENATALLY EXPOSED TO DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL; IMPACT OF AIDS ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN PRENATALLY
EXPOSED TO DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL IMPACT OF AIDS
ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
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I. BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS

• Children with prenatal drug and/or alcohol
  exposure (PDAE) are a very heterogeneous group
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) involves damage to
  an unborn baby due to the mothers alcohol
  consumption during pregnancy
• The child who has Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) has
  problems similar to those of a child with FAS,
  but to a lesser degree

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Statistics (none of these are on the exam)

• FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation in
  the Western world
• It is entirely preventable
• Each year in the U.S., more than 50,000 babies
  are born with some degree of alcohol-related
  damage

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• There are studies linking an average of 1-2
  drinks a day during pregnancy to low birthweight,
  growth abnormalities, and behavioral problems in
  newborns

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Costs estimated nationally in U.S.

• 14.9 million for treatment of FAS babies
• 670 million total treatment costs for FAS
  children under 18
• Lifetime care for ONE child born with FAS is
  2.62 million

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(now info for test starts again) ?

• The first trimester of pregnancy is a period of
  brain growth and organ and limb formation
• The embryo is most susceptible to alcohol from
  weeks2-8 after conception
• New research is showing that if a woman drinks
  during the first week after conception, there can
  be negative effects

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II. PATERNAL ALCOHOL CONSUMPTON SMOKING

• In one review of data on nearly 15,000 newborns,
  scientists concluded that a fathers drinking and
  smoking habits can increase his childs risk of
  birth defects, ranging from cleft palate to
  hydrocephalus
• Ongoing exposure to job chemicals can predispose
  a mans baby to low birthweight and birth defects

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Smoking and alcohol can damage sperm
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III. CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN WITH FAS
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• 1.
• 2.
• 3.

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• 4.
• 5.
• 6.
• 7.

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• 8.
• 9.
• 10.
• 11.

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• 12. Language delaysproblems with comprehension
  and expression
• 13. Cognitive problemse.g., difficulties with
  memory and reasoning
• 14. Auditory processing problems
• 15. Hearing issuesOME (oitis media with
  effusion) and/or sensorineural hearing loss
• 16. Sleep disturbances

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17. The eyes may be set wide apart also
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Olswang, Svensson, Astley (2011). Observation
of classroom social communication of FASD
childrenJournal of Speech, Language, Hearing
Research, 53, 1687-1703.

• They examined the social classroom skills of
  typically developing (TD) and Fetal Alcohol
  Spectrum Disorder (FASD) students
• Twelve pairs of children were observed in their
  classrooms 20 minutes a day for 4 days across 2
  weeks

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Olswang et al. (2011) found that
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Thus, we may need to
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IV. CHILDREN WITH PRENATAL DRUG EXPOSURE
INTRODUCTION

• Drugs that do the most serious damage to the
  developing fetus are cocaine, heroin, morphine,
  and LSD
• The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates
  that 5.5 of women use some illicit drug during
  pregnancy

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Thus

• Approximately 222,000 babies annually have the
  potential to be born as drug-exposed infants

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Problems in pregnancy

• For mothers who use cocaine, this causes her
  blood vessels to constrict, thus reducing the
  flow of oxygen and other nutrients to the baby
• The baby is dealt a small deck

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• Cocaine alters the action of the babys
  neurotransmitters, which can negatively affect
  behavior
• Babies may also be born with congenital defects
  such as cleft palate

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Goldberg et al. May 2010 Communication Disorders
Quarterly

• Article
• Methamphetamine exposure, iron deficiency, and
  implications for cognitive-communication
  function A case study

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Whether an expectant mother snorts, smokes,
shoots, or orally ingests meth
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Problems for babies prenatally exposed to meth
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Meth-exposed chidren also
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Effective treatment of iron deficiency
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V. BEHAVIORS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF DRUG-EXPOSED
CHILDREN

• Poor visual tracking
• Gross and fine motor problems
• Decreased awareness of body in space
• Fewer spontaneous vocalizations from infancy
• Lack of appropriate gestures and words to
  communicate needs

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• Decreased problem-solving skills
• Syntactic problems, especially disorganized
  sentences
• Word retrieval problems
• Emotional labilitymood swings from apathy to
  aggressiveness
• Great difficulty with transitions and changes
• Tests limits refuses to comply
• Tantrums, hitting, throwing things

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• Decreased use of gestures and words to initiate
  social interactions poor eye contact
• Indiscriminate attachment to new people
• Decreased responsiveness to praise, rewards
• Articulatory-phonological disorders
• Language difficulties that are not easily
  determined by standardized measures

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Because of this

• These children may not qualify for therapy in the
  public schools
• In assessment, it may be best to informally
  evaluate these childrens language skills in
  everyday settings

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VI. SUGGESTIONS FOR INTERVENTION
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Work on pragmatics skills
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Keep things structured and not overstimulating
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Remember that these children often do not retain
what they learn, so
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Also

• Give physical movement breaks dont expect them
  to sit still for long periods of time
• Help them learn appropriate play skills,
  especially cooperative play involving other
  children

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VII. LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
CHILDREN WITH HIV/AIDS

• HIV manifests primarily in the central nervous
  system
• Children may have chronic OME
• They may also have delays in communication skills

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In addition.
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VIII. SERVICE DELIVERY

• One issue for babies with HIV/AIDS is prolonged
  hospitalization
• Language stimulation is minimal
• Thus, we can provide early language stimulation
  programs, working with the family

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We can specifically work on