Speech and language disorders in children from public schools in Belo Horizonte

Alessandra Terra Vasconcelos Rabelo,Fernanda Rodrigues Campos,Clarice Passos Friche,Bárbara Suelen Vasconcelos Da Silva,Amélia Augusta De Lima Friche,Claudia Regina Lindgren Alves,Lúcia Maria Horta De Figueiredo Goulart

doi:10.1016/j.rppede.2015.08.008

Alessandra Terra Vasconcelos Rabelo, Fernanda Rodrigues Campos + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rppede.2015.08.008

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Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of oral language, orofacial motor skill and auditory processing disorders in children aged 4–10 years and verify their association with age and gender. MethodsCross-sectional study with stratified, random sample consisting of 539 students. The evaluation consisted of three protocols: orofacial motor skill protocol, adapted from the Myofunctional Evaluation Guidelines; the Child Language Test ABFW – Phonology; and a simplified auditory processing evaluation. Descriptive and associative statistical analyses were performed using Epi Info software, release 6.04. Chi-square test was applied to compare proportion of events and analysis of variance was used to compare mean values. Significance was set at p≤0.05. ResultsOf the studied subjects, 50.1% had at least one of the assessed disorders; of those, 33.6% had oral language disorder, 17.1% had orofacial motor skill impairment, and 27.3% had auditory processing disorder. There were significant associations between auditory processing skills’ impairment, oral language impairment and age, suggesting a decrease in the number of disorders with increasing age. Similarly, the variable “one or more speech, language and hearing disorders” was also associated with age. ConclusionsThe prevalence of speech, language and hearing disorders in children was high, indicating the need for research and public health efforts to cope with this problem.

Highlights

The need to communicate is inherent to human beings and is essential for the integral development, knowledge acquisition and learning
This study aims to assess the prevalence of oral language, orofacial motricity and auditory processing alterations in children aged 4---10 years from public schools located in the area of a health care center in Belo Horizonte, as well as to verify their association with age and gender
Oral language alterations were observed in 33.6% of the sample, followed by auditory processing (AP) disorders with 27.3% and orofacial motricity alterations in 17.1% (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

The need to communicate is inherent to human beings and is essential for the integral development, knowledge acquisition and learning. The adequacy of the auditory processing, which is the transformation of the acoustic signal into a meaningful message,[1] is essential in language acquisition Another important aspect is related to the orofacial motricity, which is associated with structural and functional aspects of the orofacial and cervical regions, including the functions of sucking, swallowing, chewing, breathing and articulation.[2] For the oral language to occur, the sounds produced in the vocal folds are modeled and articulated during their passage through the larynx, pharynx, and oral and nasal cavities. It is necessary for the physical movements involved in the emission of sounds (phonetic aspects) to be produced adequately, while respecting the organizational aspects of the language sound system (phonoaudiological aspects).[3]

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