Infant Feeding, Non-nutritive Sucking and Speech Development

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study will look at whether there is a relationship between how babies are fed, whether they suck a dummy/hand and how they develop speech.

Detailed Description
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Background: In the UK every year around 48,000 children aged 2-5 years are referred to NHS Speech & Language Therapy (SLT) services with difficulties using the right sounds in their talking. This is known as speech sound disorders (SSD). This is the largest population seen by Speech and Language Therapists and costs the NHS about £24 million per year. Children with SSD are more at risk of mental health problems and difficulties making relationships with those around them. They are also more likely to struggle with learning at school and be involved with the criminal justice system at some point in their early lives. When a baby is born parents make different choices about feeding their baby. Some breastfeed, some bottle-feed and some use a mixture of both. Some babies also like to have a dummy, while others suck their hand and some don't suck anything. Some studies have found that breastfeeding is linked to better language and learning in later childhood, while others have found that dummy sucking has the opposite effect. However, the effect that different types of feeding have on speech development has not been looked at in as much detail.

Official Title
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The Effect of Different Feeding Methods and Non-nutritive Sucking Behaviours on Child Speech Development

Conditions
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Speech Disorders in Children

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Speech Sound Assessment


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Children aged 2;0-5;6 on current speech and language therapy clinical caseloads in Hampshire (Solent NHS Trust) who have a diagnosis of speech sound disorder. Exclusion Criteria: Genetic Disorder (including Downs Syndrome and other identified syndromes) Other congenital anomaly (e.g Cerebral Palsy, Global Developmental Delay) Diagnosed Learning Disability Permanent Hearing Loss (Sensorineural) Cleft lip and/or palate and/or submucous cleft palate Premature birth (before 37 completed weeks gestation) English as second or additional language

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 24 Months
Maximum Age: 66 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| NHS Sample<br>Children diagnosed with speech sound disorder aged 2-5 years | Other: Speech Sound Assessment<br>* Formal standardised speech sound assessment typically used as part of standard NHS care by Speech and language Therapists<br>* Other names: Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP);|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) on a single word naming test. | PCC is a speech sound articulation test used to measure the number of correct consonant sounds produced compared to the number of consonant sounds attempted. | Outcome will be determined from data gained from the participants through assessment on a single clinic visit following recruitment. | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Presence of developmental and non-developmental error patterns in speech. | There are a variety of sound changes (error patterns) that feature in typical speech sound development. There are also patterns that are characteristic of atypical speech sound development. The speech samples gained from using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) speech assessment will be analysed by a qualified Speech and Language Therapist to identify atypical speech errors. These will then be quantified for use in the statistical analysis. | Outcome will be determined from data gained from the participants through assessment on a single clinic visit following recruitment. | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Speech Disorder, Breast Feeding, Infant Feeding, Bottle Feeding, Speech Development, Speech Sound Development, Speech Sound Disorder, Non-nutritive Sucking