The nature of referred subtypes of primary speech disability

TLDR

The study aims to characterize the subtypes of primary speech disability among children referred to a mainstream paediatric speech and language therapy service. The authors examined 1,100 referred children over 15 months, identifying 320 with primary speech impairment and excluding those with hearing, learning, or physical disabilities. Among the 320 children, 57.5 % had phonological delay, 20.6 % made consistent non‑developmental errors, 9.4 % made inconsistent errors on the same lexical item, and 12.5 % had articulation disorder; no developmental verbal dyspraxia was diagnosed, and the referral incidence was estimated at 6.4 % (≈48,000 children per year in the UK), providing data for service planning.

Abstract

Of 1100 children referred to a mainstream paediatric speech and language therapy service in a 15-month period (January 1999 to April 2000), 320 had primary speech impairment. No referred child had significant hearing impairment, learning disability or physical disability. This paper describes the nature of the subtypes of speech disability referred. The results showed that of 320 children, 57.5% had phonological delay, 20.6% consistently made non-developmental errors, 9.4% made inconsistent errors on the same lexical item and 12.5% had articulation disorder; no child was diagnosed with develop-mental verbal dyspraxia. An estimate of the referral incidence of primary speech disability in a single year, calculated from referrals who attended, was 6.4% (estimated as 48000 children per year in the UK). The findings inform speech and language therapy service planning.