Prader- Willi Syndrome
Language & Learning Implications
Commonly Found Speech and Language Difficulties
A variety of characteristics could contribute to the high incidence of speech and language deficits, however, HYPOTONIA and COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS are regarded as the main cause of difficulties.
**Hypotonia may result in slower speech rates and imprecise articulation.
** High incidence of intellectual disability may result in significant impairments to expressive and receptive language due to deficits associated specifically with; auditory short term memory, temporal order processing, and auditory verbal processing.
Other factors include:
- Structural characteristics of the mouth and jaw = impaired articulation/ compromised feeding as an infant
- Inadequate velopharyngeal movement/ closure = hyponasality /hypernasality
- Altered growth of the larynx due to endocrine dysfunction =poor pitch/ voice quality
- Reduced saliva output = xerostomia (dry mouth)
- Behavioral disturbances ie. verbal aggression = poor pragmatic language skills
(Lewis et al, 2002)
Poor articulation skills impact the normal development of language, the result is commonly a Co-occuring articulation and language deficits
Language Implications
- Early signs of language delay: reduced babbling, and emergence of vocabulary as late as 18 months- 6 years of age
- Expressive and receptive language difficulties
- Difficulties with sequencing story events in narrative retell
- Pragmatic language difficulties associated with common negative behaviors such as: verbal aggression, pre-occupation with food, and skin picking.
- It was found in a 2012 study conducted by Anastasia Dimitropulos et al. that the causal genetic sub-type may impact language deficits differently. For all participants in her study who had Pradar-Willi Syndrome as a result of the maternal uniparental disomy (uMPD) their expressive language skills were better than their receptive language skills- this is opposite for most with Pradar-Willi Syndrome.
(Dimitropoulos et al., 2012)