Perinatal Stroke
SPPA 304 ~ Cristina Giacobbe
Background:
- A perinatal stroke is a brain injury that occurs between twenty-eight weeks gestation to twenty-eight days after birth.
- 1 in 4000 births
- Risk Factors: gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, placental abnormalities, maternal history of infertility and complications during birth.
As A Result:
Children may also develop:
- Epilepsy
- Cerebral Palsy
- Behavioral Issues
25% of children with a perinatal stroke experience a language delay or difficulty.
How It Relates:
Due to the stroke, as well as the other disorders, children experience issues with receptive and expressive language.
In a study conducted by Ballantyne, Spilkin and Trauner from the University of California, children ages 5-16 were given the standardized CELF-R test. The children who experienced perinatal strokes received low average or below average scores in receptive and expressive language subtests.
- Receptive: word class, semantic relationships, and oral directions.
- Expressive: word structure, formulated sentences, sentence assembly and recalling sentences.
Children who had a history of seizures due to the stroke had lower scores than the children who did not, neither as high as the typically developing children.
Therapy:
- Early intervention is key!
- fMRI : helps increase neural activity during cognitive tasks (e.g. language)
Depending on the accompanying disorder, the therapy options may change.
- Augmentative communication devices
- Storyboards
- Hand gestures
If accompanied by another disorder, other services may be required.