Neuronal plasticity of the auditory pathway in children with speech sound disorder: a study of Long-Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials.

Purpose: To analyze the results of Long-latency Auditory Evoked Potentials (LLAEP) in children with Speech Sounds Disorder (SSD) after speech therapy.

Methods: Longitudinal and prospective clinical study at 14 children with SSD, with ages ranging from five to seven years, of both genders. Were applied Picture Naming task and Imitation task, and from these tasks it was calculated the Percentage of Consonants Correct index. For an analysis of the LLAEP with speech stimulus and recorded the latency and amplitude values ​​of P1, N1, P2, N2 and P3 components. Each child was evaluated in two different moments: initial evaluation and after 12 sessions of speech therapy.

Results: It was observed that after twelve sessions of speech therapy the value of Percentage of Consonants Correct index increased, and a greater number of components were observed in the LLAEP records of children with SSD, as well as a statistically significant increase in the amplitude of the P3 component, demonstrating that anatomical and physiological changes occurred in the central auditory nervous system after intervention, resulting in improved of the LLAEP results.

Conclusion: After speech therapy, improvement in the children's phonology was observed, and there was an increase in the number of components present in the LLAEP, as well as an increase in the amplitude of the P3 component, demonstrating that plasticity occurred in the auditory pathway during these three months of therapeutic intervention.