Publications by authors named "Tegan Howell"

Background: Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children may experience communication delays, irrespective of early intervention and technology. Australian Sign Language (Auslan) is one approach in early intervention to address language delays. Current prevalence of Auslan use among Australian families with DHH children is unknown.

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Pathogenic variants in DDX3X are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Communication impairments are commonly reported, yet specific speech and language diagnoses have not been delineated, preventing prognostic counseling and targeted therapies. Here, we characterized speech and language in 38 female individuals, aged 1.

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Through a cross-sectional community study of 2044 children aged 2 years, we (1) examine the impact of hearing loss on early spoken expressive vocabulary outcomes and (2) investigate how early intervention-related factors impact expressive vocabulary outcomes in children with hearing loss predominantly identified through universal newborn hearing screening. We used validated parent/caregiver-reported checklists from two longitudinal cohorts (302 children with unilateral or bilateral hearing loss, 1742 children without hearing loss) representing the same population in Victoria, Australia. The impact of hearing loss and amplification-related factors on vocabulary was estimated using g-computation and multivariable linear regression.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a severe speech disorder linked to motor planning and genetic factors, with many cases involving specific gene mutations.
  • - In a study of 70 individuals with CAS, researchers used genome sequencing to identify damaging genetic variants, discovering high-confidence variants in 26% of participants and doubling the number of known candidate genes related to CAS.
  • - The findings highlight the significance of chromatin organization and gene regulation in CAS, suggest shared genetic risks with other neurodevelopmental disorders, and stress the importance of understanding these genetic causes for better diagnosis and treatment options.
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