Word-finding difficulties, verbal paraphasias, and verbal dyspraxia in ten individuals with fragile X syndrome.
Speech/language disorders are common in the fragile X syndrome. [Howard-Peebles, 1979: Am J Hom Genet 31:214-222; Renier et al., 1983: J Ment Defic Res 27:51-59; Sparks, 1984: Birth Defects and Speech-Language Disorders, pp. 39-43; Hanson et al., 1986: Am J Med Genet 23:195-206]. Verbal paraphasias have been considered a rare feature and word-finding difficulties have seldom been reported. Here we report on ten Brazilian patients who were evaluated for speech/language disturbances and found that word-finding difficulties were present in 50% of the cases, which is a slightly higher frequency than that of clear dyspraxia. We suggest, therefore, that word-finding difficulties and verbal dyspraxia can be a common feature within the spectrum of this syndrome. Additional speech findings are discussed.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005600:Fragile X Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D014960:X Chromosome