The Language Profile of School-Aged Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

A population-based study of school age children diagnosed with FASD was conducted to evaluate the language abilities of these children and describe their language strengths and weaknesses. A retrospective chart review methodology was applied to examine language abilities of children diagnosed with FASD. Secondary data from 124 children aged 5 to 18 years, who were diagnosed with FASD between January 2005 and October 2010, were included in the study. Results from the CELF-4 language assessment tool were analyzed to compare the language abilities of these children. This study revealed globally poor performance across expressive and receptive language abilities, suggesting that language development is significantly affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. The Core Language Index Scores (total test scores) showed almost 70% of the participants received a language rating of "severe" (indicating significant communication impairments). About 20% had a rating of either "moderate" or "mild", and fewer than 15% had a rating of "average". Approximately 85% of the sample experienced mild to severe language delays in the index categories. The 5 to 8 year old age group had the highest average scores in all index categories, whereas the 9 year-olds consistently had the lowest average scores. The changing profile by age group is significant with important ramifications on longitudinal language testing and programming. A better understanding of language abilities in children with prenatal alcohol exposure may lead to improved planning for language interventions.