Early adolescent language development following intrathecal chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Purpose: Central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is routinely achieved through intrathecal chemotherapy (ITC). The presence of high level language deficits in older children who received CNS-directed ITC for ALL in early childhood is yet to be elucidated, with previous research suggesting that high level language deficits may appear later in ALL survivors’ development at an age when these skills typically emerge.

Method: A test battery covering foundational language skills and higher-order language skills was administered to five participants (aged 10–15 years) with a history of ITC for ALL. Conversion of each child’s language performance scores to z scores allowed for clinical interpretation of data across the language areas tested.

Result: Foundational language skills were, in general, of no clinical concern. Three of the five children presented with clinically impaired language skills in areas including resolving ambiguity, making inferences and composing novel sentences. Performance variation between the participants and within the individual participants was noted.

Conclusion: Given the importance of early adolescent language abilities to academic and social development in late primary and secondary schooling, these preliminary findings suggest further research into emerging adolescent language abilities following ITC for ALL is warranted.