Features of speech disorders in children with epileptic encephalopathies

Introduction. Speech disorders are a common problem in childhood. Speech disorders of various types are, in particular, the most common complications of epilepsy.

Objective. The clinical manifestations of speech disorders in children with epileptic encephalopathies were studied.

Materials and methods. The study included eighty nine children with epileptic encephalopathies. All patients underwent a detailed study of the anamnesis of life and disease, assessment of neurological and somatic, analysis of the semiotics of seizures, assessment of the therapy received, articulatory praxis, phonemic perception, game activity, expressive speech, impressive speech.

Results. Speech in the examined patients had the character of a gross violation after the stage of normal development (37.1%), speech development delay was noted in 38.2% of patients from birth. Phonemic perception was impaired in 73 (82.0%) patients, a violation of articulatory praxis was detected in 63 (70.8%) patients, coherent speech was not formed in 78 (87.6%) patients, play activity did not correspond to the age of the child in 50 ( 56.2%) cases, violation of the account was detected in 69 (77.5%) patients, violation of sound pronunciation was observed in 30 (33.7%) patients.

Conclusion. Articulatory apraxia and motor alalia are the most common types of speech disorders in children with epileptic encephalopathies.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was conducted with the informed consent of parents and legal representatives of the patients. The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University (protocol No. 04/06 of November 11, 2021).

Сontributions:
Guzeva V.I. — concept and design, text writing, editing;
Eremkina Yu.A. — concept and design, text writing, editing;
Guzeva O.V. — text editing;
Guzeva V.V. — concept, text editing;
Okhrim I.V. — text editing;
Vedernikova V.A. — text writing.
All co-authors approval of the final version of the article, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Acknowledgements. The study had no sponsorship.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: November 23, 2023
Accepted: February 16, 2024
Published: April 28, 2024

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