Child: care, health and development
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Child Care Health Dev · Jul 1997
Motor difficulties in children with developmental disorders of speech and language.
The motor hand function of 16 children, aged between 4 and 7 years, with developmental speech and language disorders, was compared with that of 16 control children. The children with developmental speech and language disorders were significantly slower than controls on three out of four motor tasks. They were also more likely than controls to have mixed hand preference although this results was not significant. Children with developmental speech and language disorders should be assessed to ensure that motor deficits are diagnosed and that appropriate support is given.
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The optimal design for most clinical trials of treatment is the randomized controlled group trial. This methodology is not, however, uniformly applicable or appropriate. ⋯ A representative series of single case studies with individual goal setting and a validated outcome measurement, using randomized treatment, would overcome many of the disadvantages of published studies at a greatly reduced cost. The results would enable more effective group trials to be mounted in due course to evaluate the probable impact of providing treatment to a defined population of subjects.
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Communicating a diagnosis of disability to parents, when the diagnosis and prognosis are unclear, is problematic. This is discussed in the light of information received from mothers of such children who attended a counselling and support group. ⋯ It is essential that parents are involved in management and feel they have something practical to do to help their children. Clinics must organize themselves to avoid swamping parents with information and to provide regular ongoing support.