Infant Feeding, Non-nutritive Sucking and Speech Development

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

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Speech Disorders in Children
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Speech Sound Assessment

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.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 135

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Southampton, United Kingdom, SO19 8BR
    • Recruiting
    • Solent NHS Trust
    • Contact: Samantha L Burr, MSc; Phone Number: 07721 211 928; Email: Sam.Burr@uwe.ac.uk
    • Principal Investigator: Samantha L Burr, MSc

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 5 years (CHILD)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

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.

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

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

What is the study measuring?

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.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Samanth Burr
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Samantha L Burr, Solent NHS Trust; Study Director: Toity Deave, Dr, University of the West of England

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): November 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): May 31, 2021
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): May 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 9, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 16, 2017
• First Posted (ACTUAL): October 20, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): March 17, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 16, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Breast Feeding; Infant Feeding; Bottle Feeding; Speech Sound Disorder; Speech Disorder; Speech Development; Speech Sound Development; Non-nutritive Sucking
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Speech Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: ICA-CDRF-2016-02-053

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No