Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) experience physical motor impairments in their movement and posture, often accompanied by comorbidities such as epilepsy, intellectual disability, behavioural problems and challenges in communication and language. Knowledge about spoken language comprehension and functional communication development and its determinants in children with CP across all functional mobility levels, using standardized and direct assessment tools, is still very limited. Therefore, the Cerebral Palsy–Communication and Language Learning (CP-CaLL) research project was initiated. This research project is a multi-site prospective cohort study investigating (the developmental trajectories of) spoken language comprehension and functional communication, and their determinants in children with CP across all Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels (to classify functional mobility) using standardized and direct assessment tools. The results of the CP-CaLL research project are presented in this PhD thesis. The three aims of this thesis were to investigate: (1) the developmental trajectories of receptive language (spoken language comprehension and single-word comprehension) and functional communication in children with CP; (2) which determinants are relevant for the receptive language development and functional communication development in children with CP, following the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for children and youth (ICF-CY) framework; and (3) the relationship between spoken language comprehension and functional communication in children with CP.
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