Language and communication abilities in adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

San Diego State University, San Diego CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract Exposure to alcohol prenatally can result in a wide variety of significantly impairing cognitive and behavioral effects on the developing fetus. The umbrella term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) has been adopted to capture the range of effects due to prenatal alcohol exposure, with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) representing one of the most severe consequences. Despite decades of research on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure, 1 in 10 women currently reports drinking while pregnant. Additionally, prevalence estimates suggest that as many as 2-5% of school-aged children may be affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. As such, research has recently focused on developing a neurobehavioral profile of strengths and weaknesses for individuals with FASD to enable identification, as well as highlight potential routes for intervention. One area that is largely understudied is that of language and communication. To date, findings on language and communication abilities have been mixed, and have generally focused on young children or individuals with FAS rather than individuals with FASD more broadly. Several reports have documented impaired language and communication in children with FAS; however, these have largely been case reports or descriptive studies with small sample sizes. Others have shown impaired language ability of young children with FASD compared to typically developing controls, but have not comprehensively examined these differences. Impaired or inadequate language skills can have immense impacts on clinical well-being. Along those lines, adolescents with FASD are known to display impairment in social communication and interaction, yet the relation between language and social skills in this population is largely unknown. Research conducted on other developmental disorders supports a strong correlation between impaired language abilities and emotional and behavioral disorders. Additionally, during adolescence, language and communication tasks become more demanding, and deficits may translate to greater social impairment due to increased peer responsibilities or decreased adult supervision. As such, there is a great need to establish a comprehensive profile of language and communication abilities for adolescents with FASD. Therefore, the proposed study has three components: (1) to examine the profile of language and communication abilities in adolescents with FASD and how this profile differs from typically developing controls; (2) to examine the neuropsychological bases of language and communication by testing the contribution of performance on high-level cognitive measures (i.e., inhibition, working memory, attention) to language measures; and (3) to examine the impact of language skills on functional and social communication. Successful completion of these aims will result in clinically significant information about language and communication in adolescents with FASD including greater understanding of both contributory factors and the degree to which deficits influence functional and social communication, which are critical to successful daily functioning in home, school, and occupational settings.