Language Assessment in Children with Stuttering

Abstract

Abstract Background The incidence rate of stuttering is 5% among preschool children and about 1% among adults. Although the cause of stuttering has not been identified, a multifactorial hypothesis of stuttering has gained acceptance. Aim of the Work To evaluate and to assess language in children with stuttering. Patients and Methods This analytical (observational) cross sectional study was carried out at the outpatient clinic of Phoniatrics unit, ENT department, Ain Shams University Hospitals, included 30 children with stuttering as a case group, in addition to 30 healthy age and sex matched controls. Each child in the studied group was subjected to the protocol of assessment of fluency disorders (Kotby et al., 2015). Results In the current study, there was no statistically significant difference in the severity of stuttering between boys and girls with stuttering included in the current study. There was high statistically significant difference between the studied two groups regarding phonology and syntax. There was a statistically significant strong positive correlation between chronological age with receptive language age (p < 0.001), expressive language age and total language age (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant strong positive correlation between receptive language age and expressive language age and total language age (p < 0.001). Conclusion Language is markedly affected among stuttering children in comparison to healthy control group. Recommendation Early diagnosis and assessment of stuttering is essential for proper intervention before language and behavioral deterioration.