Emotional and behavioural problems of children and adolescents who stutter: Comparison with typically developing peers.

PURPOSE: There are several studies showing contradictory results on concurrent emotional and behavioural problems of children and adolescents who stutter (CAWS). This study aimed to identify whether there is a difference between Turkish-speaking CAWS and their typically developing peers (TDP) in emotional and behavioural problems. METHODS: The study group consisted of 45 CAWS, aged between 3.40 and 15.92 years, and the control group consisted of 45 TDP, aged between 3.15 and 16.80 years. Participants were divided into three age groups: early childhood (0-6 years), middle childhood (7-11 years) and adolescence (12-18 years). CAWS and TDP were compared separately in each age group with Mann-Whitney U tests. Assessments of emotional and behavioural problems were conducted with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) for Ages 1.5-5 and the CBCL for Ages 6-18. RESULTS: In early childhood, CAWS had significantly higher emotional reactivity, anxiety/depression, somatic complaints, withdrawal, sleep problems, attention problems and aggressive behaviour scores than TDP. In middle childhood and adolescence, CAWS had significantly higher anxiety/depression, withdrawal/depression, social problems, attention problems, rule-breaking behaviour and aggressive behaviour scores compared to TDP. In adolescence, somatic problems and thought problems scores were also significantly higher in AWS than TDP. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that emotional and behavioural problems associated with stuttering are noticeable from early childhood to adolescence. Cooperation with mental health professionals may be needed to improve the quality of speech therapy in CAWS.

Effects of distractors on upright balance performance in school-aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a common impairing neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in early childhood. Almost half of the children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder also experience a variety of motor-related dysfunctions ranging from fine/gross motor control problems to difficulties in maintaining balance. OBJECTIVES: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of distractors two different auditory distractors namely, relaxing music and white noise on upright balance performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. METHODS: We compared upright balance performance and the involvement of different sensory systems in the presence of auditory distractors between school-aged children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (n=26) and typically developing controls (n=20). Neurocom SMART Balance Master Dynamic Posturography device was used for the sensory organization test. Sensory organization test was repeated three times for each participant in three different test environments. RESULTS: The balance scores in the silence environment were lower in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder group but the differences were not statistically significant. In addition to lower balance scores the visual and vestibular ratios were also lower. Auditory distractors affected the general balance performance positively for both groups. More challenging conditions, using an unstable platform with distorted somatosensory signals were more affected. Relaxing music was more effective in the control group, and white noise was more effective in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder group and the positive effects of white noise became more apparent in challenging conditions. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating balance performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder under the effects of auditory distractors. Although more studies are needed, our results indicate that auditory distractors may have enhancing effects on upright balance performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Evaluation of visual motor perception in children with developmental articulation and phonological disorders.

The aim of this study is to compare the visual-motor perceptual skills of children who have a developmental articulation and phonological disorder, with children who do not have such disorders. A group of 21 children between the ages 5:6 and 9:1 yr. (13 boys, 8 girls) was compared to a control group of 21 children matched on sex, age, and socioeconomic level using the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test. Children with disorders had significantly more Bender errors.