بررسي اختلالات مراجعين كلينيك گفتار درماني آموزش و پرورش استثنايي بندرعباس در سال تحصيلي 84-1383

Study on disorders of referrer of exceptional education to speech therapy clinic of Bandar Abbas during 2004-2005

Introduction: Communication disorders have been acknowledged as a major public health issue because they compromise early childhood development, restrict vocational attaimnent and undermine the socioeconomic state of people. Problem in reading, which is a concept of human language abilities, can be efficacious in all educational and social aspects of human life. The objective of this study was investigation of different speech disorders among referrers to speech therapy clinic of educational office of Bandar Abbas. Methods: The study was descriptive cross-sectional and all patients were referred from the screening of health assessment program or kindergartens, or introduced by physiciansduring 2004-5. The data was reported as frequency and partial frequency. Results: From 172 patients with 3-15 years old, 30.2% were girls and 69.8% were boys. The most common disorder was articulation disorder with a rate of 79.1 %. Delayed speech and language was the second common disorder in 17.4% of referrers. Stutter was observed in 2.3% of visited children. The last disorder was dysartheria in two children (1.2%). Voice and resonance disorder as well as aphasia were not observed in the studied cases. Conclusion: In this investigation majority of children were 4-6 years old, including the kindergartens children with due attention to other studies that reported speech disorders of this age group 8-12%, the cause of high rate of referred children in this age group showed the good quality of health assessment program and close collaboration of kindergartens educators for identification and introducing these children to speech therapy centers. The articulation disorder (79.1 %) had the highest rate of disorders. With due attention to relation between phonological disorders, dyslexia and learning disorders, treatment of this disorder has a special importance, particularly before introducing to the primary school. Speech disorders were limited because of families donʹt know about speech therapy and which cases should be referred to speech therapy clinics. They also donʹt know the problems that originates from relationship disabilities. Finally another important reason may be the weak relationship between speech therapists and physicians, especially E. N.T specialists and neurologists. Key words: Speech Disorders - Child - Bandar Abhas