Mirela Boscariol

Crianças com fissura isolada de palato: desempenho nos testes de processamento auditivo

Many children with auditory processing disorders have a high prevalence of otitis media, a middle ear alterations greatly prevalent in children with palatine and lip clefts. AIM: to check the performance of children with palate cleft alone (PC) in auditory processing tests. Prospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: twenty children (7 to 11 years) with CP were submitted to sound location tests (SL), memory for verbal sounds (MSSV) and non verbal sounds in sequence (MSSNV), Revised auditory fusion (AFT-R), Pediatric test of speech intelligibility/synthetic sentences (PSI/SSI), alternate disyllables (SSW) and digit dichotic (DD). The children performances in the tests were classified in bad and good. RESULTS: there was no statistically significant difference between genders and ears. The average values obtained were 2.16, 2.42, 4.37, 60.50ms; 40.71 to 67.33%; 96.25 to 99.38%; 73.55 to 73.88% and 58.38 to 65.47% respectively for the MSSNV, MSSV, LS, AFT-R, PSI/SSI tests with ipsilateral (PSI/SSIMCI) and contralateral (PSI/SSI/MCC) competitive message, DD and SSW tests. CONCLUSION: a high percentage of children showed worse results in the AFT-R, DD, SSW tests and in the PSI/SSIMCI tests. The best performances happened in the sound location tests, verbal and non-verbal sounds for sequential memory and for PSI/SSIMCC tests.

Neuropsychological assessment of children with rolandic epilepsy: Executive functions

Rolandic epilepsy (RE) is the most common type of childhood focal epilepsy. Although there is no intellectual deficit, children with RE may have specific cognitive impairments. The aims of this study were to identify changes in executive functions in children with RE and to verify the influence of epilepsy and seizure variables. We evaluated 25 children with RE and 28 healthy controls. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was utilized. The results showed that the RE children had worse performance than the control group in some categories of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Trail Making Test part B, and the Verbal Fluency Test (FAS). Children with earlier onset of epilepsy had worse performance when compared with children with later onset of epilepsy. We conclude that children with RE may show a deficit in executive function despite their normal IQ. The set of tests was more extensive than what was previously used in other studies. Our study suggests that early seizures can interfere with brain development. Regarding cognition, the term benign should be used cautiously in RE.

Processamento temporal auditivo: relação com dislexia do desenvolvimento e malformação cortical

TEMA: processamento temporal auditivo e dislexia do desenvolvimento. OBJETIVO: caracterizar o processamento temporal auditivo em escolares com dislexia do desenvolvimento e correlacionar com malformacao cortical. METODO: foram avaliados 20 escolares, com idade entre 8 e 14 anos, divididos em grupo experimental (GE) composto por 11 escolares (oito do genero masculino) com o diagnostico de dislexia do desenvolvimento e grupo controle (GC) composto por nove escolares (seis do genero masculino) sem alteracoes neuropsicolinguisticas. Apos avaliacoes neurologica, neuropsicologica e fonoaudiologica (avaliacao de linguagem e leitura e escrita) para obtencao do diagnostico, os escolares foram submetidos a avaliacao audiologica periferica e posteriormente aplicou-se o teste Random Gap Detection Test e/ou Random Gap Detection Test Expanded. RESULTADOS: observou-se diferenca estatisticamente significante entre os escolares do GE e GC, com pior desempenho para o GE. A maioria dos escolares do GE apresentou polimicrogiria perisylviana. CONCLUSAO: escolares com dislexia do desenvolvimento podem apresentar alteracoes no processamento temporal auditivo com prejuizo no processamento fonologico. Malformacao do desenvolvimento cortical pode ser o substrato anatomico dos disturbios.BACKGROUND Temporal auditory processing and developmental dyslexia. AIM To characterize the temporal auditory processing in children with developmental dyslexia and to correlate findings with cortical malformations. METHOD Twenty school-aged children, ranging in age from 8 to 14 years were evaluated. These children were divided into two groups: the experimental group (EG) was composed by 11 children (eight were male) with developmental dyslexia and the control group (CG) was composed by nine normal children (six were male). After neurological assessment and verification of the intellectual level, language, reading and writing skills in order to determine the diagnosis, children underwent a peripheral audiological evaluation and Random Gap Detection Test and/or Random Gap Detection Test Expanded. RESULTS A statistically significant difference between children in the EG and CG were observed, with children in the EG presenting worst performances. Most of the children in the EG presented perisylvian polymicrogyria. CONCLUSION Children with developmental dyslexia may present temporal auditory processing disorders with deficits in phonological processing. Cortical malformations may be the anatomical substrate of these disorders.

Auditory processing disorder in perisylvian syndrome

We hypothesized that the processing of auditory information by the perisylvian polymicrogyric cortex may be different from the normal cortex. To characterize the auditory processing in bilateral perisylvian syndrome, we examined ten patients with perisylvian polymicrogyria (Group I) and seven control children (Group II). Group I was composed by four children with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria and six children with bilateral posterior perisylvian polymicrogyria. The evaluation included neurological and neuroimaging investigation, intellectual quotient and audiological assessment (audiometry and behavior auditory tests). The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups in the behavioral auditory tests, such as, digits dichotic test, nonverbal dichotic test (specifically in right attention), and random gap detection/random gap detection expanded tests. Our data showed abnormalities in the auditory processing of children with perisylvian polymicrogyria, suggesting that perisylvian polymicrogyric cortex is functionally abnormal. We also found a correlation between the severity of our auditory findings and the extent of the cortical abnormality.

Cleft palate children: performance in auditory processing tests

UNLABELLED Many children with auditory processing disorders have a high prevalence of otitis media, a middle ear alterations greatly prevalent in children with palatine and lip clefts. AIM To check the performance of children with palate cleft alone (PC) in auditory processing tests. Prospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty children (7 to 11 years) with CP were submitted to sound location tests (SL), memory for verbal sounds (MSSV) and non verbal sounds in sequence (MSSNV), Revised auditory fusion (AFT-R), Pediatric test of speech intelligibility/synthetic sentences (PSI/SSI), alternate disyllables (SSW) and digit dichotic (DD). The children performances in the tests were classified in bad and good. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference between genders and ears. The average values obtained were 2.16, 2.42, 4.37, 60.50 ms; 40.71 to 67.33%; 96.25 to 99.38%; 73.55 to 73.88% and 58.38 to 65.47% respectively for the MSSNV, MSSV, LS, AFT-R, PSI/SSI tests with ipsilateral (PSI/SSIMCI) and contralateral (PSI/SSI/MCC) competitive message, DD and SSW tests. CONCLUSION A high percentage of children showed worse results in the AFT-R, DD, SSW tests and in the PSI/SSIMCI tests. The best performances happened in the sound location tests, verbal and non-verbal sounds for sequential memory and for PSI/SSIMCC tests.

Auditory processing disorder in patients with language-learning impairment and correlation with malformation of cortical development

Malformations of cortical development have been described in children and families with language-learning impairment. The objective of this study was to assess the auditory processing information in children with language-learning impairment in the presence or absence of a malformation of cortical development in the auditory processing areas. We selected 32 children (19 males), aged eight to 15 years, divided into three groups: Group I comprised 11 children with language-learning impairment and bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria, Group II comprised 10 children with language-learning impairment and normal MRI, and Group III comprised 11 normal children. Behavioral auditory tests, such as the Random Gap Detection Test and Digits Dichotic Test were performed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test, with a level of significance of 0.05. The results revealed a statistically significant difference among the groups. Our data showed abnormalities in auditory processing of children in Groups I and II when compared with the control group, with children in Group I being more affected than children in Group II. Our data showed that the presence of a cortical malformation correlates with a worse performance in some tasks of auditory processing function.

Temporal Auditory Processing and Phonological Awareness in Children with Benign Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes

The aim of this research was to analyze temporal auditory processing and phonological awareness in school-age children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS). Patient group (GI) consisted of 13 children diagnosed with BECTS. Control group (GII) consisted of 17 healthy children. After neurological and peripheral audiological assessment, children underwent a behavioral auditory evaluation and phonological awareness assessment. The procedures applied were: Gaps-in-Noise test (GIN), Duration Pattern test, and Phonological Awareness test (PCF). Results were compared between the groups and a correlation analysis was performed between temporal tasks and phonological awareness performance. GII performed significantly better than the children with BECTS (GI) in both GIN and Duration Pattern test (P < 0.001). GI performed significantly worse in all of the 4 categories of phonological awareness assessed: syllabic (P = 0.001), phonemic (P = 0.006), rhyme (P = 0.015) and alliteration (P = 0.010). Statistical analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the phonological awareness assessment and Duration Pattern test (P < 0.001). From the analysis of the results, it was concluded that children with BECTS may have difficulties in temporal resolution, temporal ordering, and phonological awareness skills. A correlation was observed between auditory temporal processing and phonological awareness in the suited sample.

Auditory processing disorders in twins with perisylvian polymicrogyria

Bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria is a malformation of cortical development due to abnormal late neuronal migration or abnormal cortical organization around the sylvian fissure 1 . The severity of the clinical manifestations correlates with the extent of the lesion. Therefore, the term diffuse polymicrogyria is applied when the cortical malformation spreads around the entire sylvian fissure, and restrict ed polymicrogyria is applied when polymicrogyria occurs only in the posterior part of the parietal region. The restricted form is also called bilateral posterior parietal polymicrogyria and appears to be associated with a genetic predisposition and soft clinical features (such as speech delay and dysarthria) when compared to the diffuse form of polymicrogyria. Studies with families showed correlation of specific language impairment (SLI) and learning disabilities with perisylvian polymicrogyria 2 . Referencing cited studies, this paper describes the language, learning and audiology findings in dizygotic twins and associates them with the neuropsychological, neurological and neuroimaging findings. CASE

Language and central temporal auditory processing in childhood epilepsies

Because of the relationship between rolandic, temporoparietal, and centrotemporal areas and language and auditory processing, the aim of this study was to investigate language and central temporal auditory processing of children with epilepsy (rolandic epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy) and compare these with those of children without epilepsy. Thirty-five children aged between eight and 14 years old were studied. Two groups of children participated in this study: a group with childhood epilepsy (n=19), and a control group without epilepsy or linguistic changes (n=16). There was a significant difference between the two groups, with the worst performance in children with epilepsy for the gaps-in-noise test, right ear (p<0.001) and left ear (p<0.001) tests, and duration pattern test--naming (p=0.002) and humming (p=0.002). In auditory P300, there was no significant difference in latency (p=0.343) and amplitude (p=0.194) between the groups. There was a significant difference between the groups, with the worst performance in children with epilepsy, for the auditory-receptive vocabulary (PPVT) (p<0.001) and phonological working memory (nonwords repetition task) tasks (p=0.001). We conclude that the impairment of central temporal auditory processing and language skills may be comorbidities in children with rolandic epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Comparison of auditory event-related potentials between children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes and children with temporal lobe epilepsy

The abnormal brain discharges observed in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are located close to areas responsible for auditory and language processing. This study aimed to analyze the results of auditory event-related potentials (P300) in children with BECTS and TLE in order to assess whether the epileptic activity in centrotemporal and temporal regions may compromise the integrity and physiology of auditory system structures. This was a prospective, comparative, and cross-sectional study. Group I (GI) consisted of 13 children diagnosed with BECTS, group II (GII), 7 children diagnosed with TLE, and control group (GIII), 16 healthy children, with no hearing or academic complaints. After neurological and basic audiological assessments, P300 was applied. The P300 latency and amplitude were compared between groups. Regarding latency, GI showed 324.1 (+31.5) ms, GII 336.3 (+23.5) ms, and GIII 318 (+27.7) ms. Amplitudes were 4.80 (+3.2) μV in GI, 4.7 (+2.5) μV in GII, and 5.8 (+2.4) μV in GIII. Although children with BECTS showed prolonged latencies and reduced amplitudes, these differences were not considered statistically significant. Children with TLE showed statistically significant prolonged P300 latency compared with the control group (P=0.037). We speculate that abnormal electrical discharges in centrotemporal and temporal regions led to the slowing of auditory processing in our sample.