Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R)

Ward, Roslyn; Hennessey, Neville; Barty, Elizabeth; Cantle Moore, Robyn; Elliott, Catherine; Valentine, Jane

doi:10.3390/diagnostics13233517

Open AccessArticle

Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R)

by

Roslyn Ward

^1,2,*,

Neville Hennessey

²,

Elizabeth Barty

¹,

Robyn Cantle Moore

^3,4

,

Catherine Elliott

^1,2,5 and

Jane Valentine

^1,5

¹

Department of Paediatric Rehabilitation, Perth Children’s Hospital, Perth 6009, Australia

²

School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia

³

NextSense Institute, Sydney 2151, Australia

⁴

Faculty of Arts, School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia

⁵

Telethon Kids Institute, Perth 6009, Australia

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Diagnostics 2023, 13(23), 3517; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13233517

Submission received: 24 September 2023 / Revised: 10 November 2023 / Accepted: 15 November 2023 / Published: 23 November 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rett Syndrome and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Diagnosis and Assessment)

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Abstract

Aim: We compared early vocal development in children “at risk” for cerebral palsy (CP) with typically developing (TD) infants aged 6 to 15 months using the SAEVD-R, investigating potential pre-linguistic markers of communication impairment. Additionally, we sought to examine the agreement between the SAEVD-R and IMP, which uses parent report, in identifying departure from typical vocal development in at-risk infants. Method: Utilising a longitudinal cohort study, >10,000 vocalisations of 33 infants (15 at risk for CP and 18 TD) were assessed at 6, 9, 12, and 15 months using the SAEVD-R. Generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) compared groups, and Spearman correlations explored IMP ceiling scores and SAEVD-R measures. Results: At 6 months, both TD and CP groups reached SAEVD-R vocalisation level 3 (expansion). By 9 months, 51% of TD infants progressed to advanced babbling (levels 4 and 5), while 80% of at-risk infants remained at level 3. At 12 and 15 months, over 90% of TD children advanced, compared to 67% at 12 months and 53% at 15 months for at-risk infants, who stayed at the pre-canonical stage. Strong correlations were found between IMP scores and vocalisation levels at 9 and 12 months. Remaining at the pre-canonical stage at 12 months correlated with delayed vocal development as per IMP scores. Interpretation: TD infants achieved higher SAEVD-R levels than at-risk infants. At 12 months, IMP scores effectively identified infants with speech-like vocalisation difficulties, demonstrating its clinical utility in identifying atypical vocal development in infants at risk for CP.

Keywords: cerebral palsy; babbling development; Infant Monitor of vocal Production; clinical utility

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ward, R.; Hennessey, N.; Barty, E.; Cantle Moore, R.; Elliott, C.; Valentine, J. Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R). Diagnostics 2023, 13, 3517. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13233517

AMA Style

Ward R, Hennessey N, Barty E, Cantle Moore R, Elliott C, Valentine J. Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R). Diagnostics. 2023; 13(23):3517. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13233517

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ward, Roslyn, Neville Hennessey, Elizabeth Barty, Robyn Cantle Moore, Catherine Elliott, and Jane Valentine. 2023. "Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R)" Diagnostics 13, no. 23: 3517. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13233517

APA Style

Ward, R., Hennessey, N., Barty, E., Cantle Moore, R., Elliott, C., & Valentine, J. (2023). Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R). Diagnostics, 13(23), 3517. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13233517

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Profiling the Longitudinal Development of Babbling in Infants with Cerebral Palsy: Validation of the Infant Monitor of Vocal Production (IMP) Using the Stark Assessment of Early Vocal Development-Revised (SAEVD-R)

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