RESUMO
The new reproductive technologies have made it possible for parentless couples to become parent. Very little information is known about language and cognitive development in child conceived by ART and few studies have been done in order to evaluate the communicative disorders in these children. The objective of this study is to establish base line data about the size and distribution of language disorders among the children conceived through the ART procedures. This study was set in the Egyptian IVF center, the Jesuit Father's school and the preterm pediatric clinic in El-Minia governorate. One hundred children conceived by the ART procedures and 100 naturally conceived babies were included in this study. The children in the two groups were matched as much as possible in order to evaluate the effect of the ART procedures on the language abilities. The children of both groups were subjected to the protocols of language assessment which applied in the Phoniatric Unit of Am Shams University Hospital Revealed significant difference between both groups regarding the receptive, semantics and total language test scores. The results from this study revealed that the low birth weight, poor neonatal outcome, premature and multiple birth were important risk factors for worsening the language abilities of the children conceived by the ART more than the mode of conception by the ART procedures. In conclusion, A wider study is necessary to determine the effect of ART on the language skills of ART children