Differentiation of Speech Delay and Global Developmental Delay in Children Using DTI Tractography-Based Connectome

ROIs showing significantly altered network metrics in the group comparison of TD > SD. In the 2D connectogram, the color of anatomic label scales the P value of group difference in the AAL template. Similarly, the color of each circle represents the P value of individual metrics. The 3D connectogram shows individual pair-wise pathways having significant group differences in nodal strength (ie, the greater the radius of the sphere, the greater the group difference). In both 2D and 3D connectograms, block arrows indicate the frontotemporal language network in which nodal properties are significantly reduced in SD compared with TD.

ROIs showing significantly altered network metrics in the group comparison of SD > GD. In the 2D connectogram, the color of anatomic label scales the P value of the group difference in the AAL template. Similarly, the color of each circle represents the P value of individual metrics. The 3D connectogram shows individual pair-wise pathways having significant group differences in nodal strength (ie, the greater the radius of the sphere, the greater the group difference). In both 2D and 3D connectograms, block arrows indicate the right hippocampus whose nodal properties are significantly reduced in GD compared with SD.

Global and local efficiency of the whole-brain network was obtained from individual subjects and is presented in the violin plots. Group mean and 1 SD are represented by red vertical lines. The black curve of each violin indicates the probabilistic attenuation function of the measure. To avoid the effect of arbitrary thresholding, we calculated the values of efficiencies at 3 discrete thresholds (5, 7, 10) of pair-wise connectivity scores of individual subjects to minimize the potential confounding across subjects.