Communicative Disorders In Some Minority Preschool And School-Age Children In U. S. A

Abstract

The specific purposes of this study were to survey and to determine the number and prevalence of communicative disorders in a metropolitan, minority-based, comprehensive health-care facility. The rationales were •developed from the limited and/or lack of accurate data on medical facilities, language disorders, and preschool children. The methodology included surveying the records for children referred Jor speech-language and audio- logical evaluations during the five-year calendar period 1973 through 1977. The results revealed that 3,827 children were seen for evaluation ; of this number 38' 5% were diagnosed with communicative disorders. The distribution of the hearing, speech, language and learning disabilities was 63'6, 21-9, 10-9 and 4-3% respectively; the population prevalences were 4-88, 1-63, 0-84 and 0-33% respectively, totaling 7-7%. The distribution for the preschool, elementary and Junior-Senior high groups was 39'2, 38-9 and 21-9% respectively; the population prevalence were 3'02, 3'00 and 1'68% respectively. The male-female ratios in the population and for the disorders were both 1'2:1, indicating no differences Other specific results and implications were discussed.