SPEECH DISORDERS IN CHILDREN TREATED FOR POSTERIOR-FOSSA TUMORS - ATAXIC AND DEVELOPMENTAL FEATURES

The oromotor and speech abilities of 19 children (14 boys and five gir ls) who had been treated for posterior fossa tumour were evaluated usi ng three assessment procedures. All subjects completed the Frenchay Dy sarthria Assessment and the Fisher-Logemann Test of Articulation Compe tence. Perrceptual analyses were also performed on the subjects' conne cted speech samples. Based on the three assessment procedures, 11 of t he 19 tumour subjects were judged to be speech disordered. The 11 spee ch-disordered subjects were then compared to a control group matched f or age and sex to determine the nature and severity of speech abnormal ities which may occur subsequent to the treatment of posterior fossa t umour in childhood. Both developmental and dysarthric features were id entified in the speech of the 11 tumour subjects. The deviant speech c haracteristics exhibited by the tumour subjects included imprecise con sonants, excess stress and reduced intelligibility, as well as the ret ention of developmental phonological processes. These features are des cribed in detail and discussed with reference to descriptive studies o f adult dysarthria. An interaction between acquired and developmental disorders of speech is proposed.