A Study of the Incidence of Speech Deviations among Visually Handicapped Children

Abstract

This report has attempted to investigate the incidence of speech deviations among visually handicapped children. Two hundred and ninety-three children were surveyed and 33.8 per cent were found to have some sort of speech deviation. This statistic is four to five times higher than the incidence in public schools, depending upon which study is used for comparison. The largest category of deviations was “articulations.” There was no statistical difference between the braille students and sight-saving students in terms of speech deviations. There was no statistical difference between the number of boys and girls in comparing speech deviations. More children had a diagnosis of retrolental fibroplasia than any other eye diagnosis. The incidence of retrolental fibroplasia has decreased significantly among the blind in the past five years. Consequently, it cannot be positively stated that there is a correlation between retrolental fibroplasia and speech deviations. It is interesting to note, however, that out of fourteen students having optic atrophy, thirteen had articulation problems. It is not known, unfortunately, how many out of the total number surveyed had optic atrophy. The mean age of the children with speech deviations is 10.1 years. From this investigation it cannot be generalized that approximately one-third of all blind children have speech deviations. Numerous factors alter the interpretation of such a generalization. Both the Michigan and Illinois schools are residential schools. Perhaps the incidence might be different in day school programs. Nevertheless, it can be said that the incidence of speech deviations in visually handicapped children is higher than most estimates of defective speech in public school surveys.