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Infant Feeding, Non-nutritive Sucking and Speech Development

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

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03315416
Enrollment
135
Registered
2017-10-20
Start date
2017-11-01
Completion date
2021-05-31
Last updated
2020-03-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Speech Disorders in Children

Keywords

Speech Disorder, Breast Feeding, Infant Feeding, Bottle Feeding, Speech Development, Speech Sound Development, Speech Sound Disorder, Non-nutritive Sucking

Brief summary

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

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.

Interventions

OTHERSpeech Sound Assessment

Formal standardised speech sound assessment typically used as part of standard NHS care by Speech and language Therapists

Sponsors

Samanth Burr
Lead SponsorOTHER_GOV

Study design

Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
OTHER

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
24 Months to 66 Months
Healthy volunteers
No

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

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) on a single word naming test.Outcome will be determined from data gained from the participants through assessment on a single clinic visit following recruitment.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.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Presence of developmental and non-developmental error patterns in speech.Outcome will be determined from data gained from the participants through assessment on a single clinic visit following recruitment.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.

Countries

United Kingdom

Contacts

Primary ContactSamantha L Burr
Sam.Burr@uwe.ac.uk07721 211 928

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026