Comprehensive assessment of the speech development of children conceived by IVF

Introduction. The high frequency of the use of assisted reproductive technologies and the inconsistency of information about the parameters of the cognitive development of IVF children determined the formulation of the research problem.

The purpose of the work is to assess the originality of the speech development of children and adolescents conceived using the IVF procedure. The age of the children at the time of the survey was from 5 to 15 years.

Methods and materials. A sample of 51 children (29 boys), mean age (7.9±2.8) years, 14 children had psychiatric diagnoses (ASD, mental retardation, etc.). Research methods: speech therapy assessment of speech development, neuropsychological diagnostics according to L.S. Tsvetkova, WICS, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis.

Results. 41% of children had mild variants of speech development delay under 3 years old, 59 % of children had normal speech development. With age, the frequency of detected deviations in speech development decreases, so that in older age group (from 11 to 15 years old), 85 % have normotypical development of speech. Correlation analysis showed the originality of the correlations of the parameters of speech development, neuropsychological assessment, and scores on Wechsler subtests.

Conclusions. An unambiguous conclusion about the violation of speech development in children conceived by IVF cannot be drawn, however, in the presence of mental pathology and taking into account the age of the mother and the number of ART procedures, attention should be paid to the provision of speech therapy and neuropsychological correction from an early age.

1. Rishchuk S. V., Mirsky V. E. Assisted reproductive technologies as an iatrogenic factor in the deterioration of the health of the child population Bulletin of the Orenburg Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (electronic journal). 2013;(4). Available at: http://elmag.uran.ru:9673/magazine/Numbers/2013-4 (accessed: 15.03.2022).

2. Orlova O. S. et al. Results of the psychological and pedagogical examination of children born with the use of in vitro fertilization and from spontaneously occurring pregnancy // Defectology. 2016;(5):38-46. (In Russ.).

3. Orlova O. S., Pechenina V. A. Formation of speech function in twin children born spontaneously and as a result of the use of in vitro fertilization // Bulletin of the Leningrad State University. AS Pushkin. 2016;(4-2):237-242. (In Russ.).

4. Maslyanyuk N. A. Multiple pregnancy after in vitro fertilization as a risk factor for prematurity and intrauterine growth retardation // Journal of Obstetrics and Women's Diseases. 2010;59(1). (In Russ.).

5. Leshchinskaya S. B. Factors affecting the development of children with assisted reproductive technologies: a review of the literature // Bulletin of psychotherapy. 2020;(75):130-146. (In Russ.).

6. Dobryakov I. V. et al. Mental and somatic development of children conceived with the help of in vitro fertilization // Issues of mental health of children and adolescents. 2019; 19(4):122-132. (In Russ.).

7. Wen J., Jiang J., Ding C. et al. Birth defects in children conceived by in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a meta-analysis // Fertil Steril. 2012;97(6):1331-1337. Doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.02.053.

8. Wolff M., Haaf T. In Vitro Fertilization Technology and Child Health/ Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2020;117(3):23-30. Doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2020.0023.

9. Zandstra H., Smits L. J. M., van Kuijk S. M. J., van Golde R. J. T., Evers J. L. H., Dumoulin J. C. M., & van Montfoort A. P. A. No effect of IVF culture medium on cognitive development of 9-year-old children. Human reproduction open. 2018;(4). Doi: 10.1093/hropen/hoy018.

10. Dehghan M. et al. Speech and language development of children born following assisted reproductive technologies // International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. 2020;(134):110060. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110060.

11. Sandin S., Nygren K. G. Iliadou A. et al. Autism and mental retardation among offspring born after in vitro fertilization // JAMA 2013;310(1):75-84. Doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.7222.

12. Oshchepkova E. S. Evaluation of the development of speech in children: a review of foreign methods // Issues of psycholinguistics. 2020;2(44):110-123. (In Russ.). Doi: 10.30982/2077-5911-2020-44-2-110-123.

13. Tsvetkova L. S. Methods of neuropsychological diagnosis of children. Moscow, Russian Pedagogical Agency «Kogito-center», 2012. (In Russ.).

14. Filimonenko Yu. I., Timofeev V. I. WICS. Diagnostics of the level of intelligence development (Children's version): a methodological guide. SPb., IMATON, 2011:106. (In Russ.).

15. Surkova K. L., Sergienko A. A., Zvereva N. V. Neuropsychological and logopedic analysis of the development of mental functions in IVF children of early preschool age (from 3 to 5 years): methods and results of a pilot study // Medical psychology in Russia: electron. scientific magazine. 2021;13(3(68)). Available at: http://mprj.ru (accessed: 18.03.2022).