Desempenho Linguístico inicial de crianças com Microcefalia secundária à Síndrome Congênita do Zika Vírus

Abstract

From birth, the child is immersed in the social world, where human activity is mediated by language. Gradually, the child appropriates the traces of culture through his action on the world and the relations with objects and with the other. Children with atypical development may be slow to communicate through oral language, or may not be able to develop it, featuring less than expected language performance. Thus, understanding how this process of language acquisition and development occurs is fundamental for social relations in children. Children with Zika Virus Congenital Syndrome (ZIKV) are known to have neuropsychomotor developmental delay, and in view of this fact, studies are needed to analyze the language acquisition process of this population to provide intervention subsidies, whether family or through the development of resources and strategies sensitive to this complex path of language appropriation. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the initial linguistic performance of ten children with Microcephaly secondary to ZIKV Congenital Syndrome. For this, a quantitative evaluation was carried out through the Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM), which contains three language milestones: expressive auditory function (AE), receptive auditory function (AR) and visual function (V). This scale is a concise language assessment tool capable of detecting changes in the first three years of life. Its application followed the direct test (T) conduct of the child; incidental observation of the behavior in question (O) and / or parent report (H). A vertical line was plotted on the chronological age of each child, and then all items crossing that line were checked in each of the three AR, AE, V functions to determine the ceiling and base levels. The three items of success and failure in each of the functions were then identified. At the end of the test, the age of performance of each function (AE, AR and V) was obtained. Regardless of the chronological age, 100% of the children presented impairment in the auditory area expressive, auditory receptive and visual, characterizing performance below expectations. In the face of the challenges related to the communication of the child with Microcephaly secondary to Congenital Syndrome of the ZIKV and of the little literature still existing that approach this subject, it reinforces its importance, because it is through communication that the other will relate to the child, the sense of words and building effective communication.