Articulation Disorders Research Articles

Logopedische diagnostiek en behandeling bij kinderen geboren met een lip-, kaak- en verhemeltespleet: een state-of-the-art overzicht

Speech diagnosis and treatment of children born with a cleft lip and palate: state-of-the-art overview Children born with a cleft palate, with or without a cleft lip, are susceptible to speech and/or language disorders. Velopharyngeal insufficiency often persists, even after successful surgical closure of the palate. This results in speech disorders, including both resonance and articulation disorders, which may have a severe impact on the children’s speech understandability and acceptability. This may, in turn, influence their psychosocial well-being, quality of life and inclusion into society. This article provides an overview of the most important speech characteristics per age group. In addition, a state-of-the-art overview of current practices in speech diagnosis and intervention is included. This overview is based on international scientific research in this population.

Association Between the Language Development and Behavioral-Emotional Problems in Children With Ankyloglossia

Background and Objectives The study attempted to clarify the correlation between the degree of behavioral-emotional problems and language development in patients with ankyloglossia and to identify pre- and post-operative changes in pronunciation, language, and behavioral- emotional problems.Subjects and Method This prospective cohort study was conducted at a tertiary academic center. Patients with ankyloglossia exhibiting articulation disorders were divided into normal and language delay groups according to the degree of language development. Articulation was evaluated using the Korean-specific Urimal Test of Articulation and Phonation (U-TAP), and language development was evaluated using the Preschool Receptive-Expressive Language Scale (PRES). The difference in the degree of behavioral-emotional development between the two groups was analyzed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire test. Moreover, changes in articulation, language development, and behavioral-emotional development scores were compared before and 3 months post-operatively in the two groups.Results Thirty patients with ankyloglossia were enrolled and classified into the normal group (n=11) and language delay group (n=19). Children of the language delay group exhibited significantly delayed improvements in emotional symptoms compared to those in the normal group (2.55±1.04 vs. 1.68±1.49 in language delay vs. normal group, respectively; p=0.037). The UTAP and PRES test scores were improved three months post-operatively in the entire group, but there was no significant difference after surgery when compared between the two groups.Conclusion Behavioral-emotional development was delayed in patients with ankyloglossia accompanied by language delay. Furthermore, articulation and language development improved three months after frenoplasty in all patients. However, behavioral-emotional development was delayed in patients with ankyloglossia accompanied by language delay.

Reeducarea tulburărilor specifice de articulare a vorbirii determinate de dezechilibru muscular orofacial cu ajutorul terapiei logopedice miofuncționale

Phonetic disorders are errors of articulation and resonance of phonemes, which, in the presence or absence of organic changes in the phonoarticulatory organs, persist beyond the acquisition of perceptual and articulatory skills. For the correct production of each vowel/consonant, the structures of the articulatory apparatus come into contact in a variable way, following finely coordinated movements, and adopt a certain position to allow the correct emission of the sound. Orofacial muscle imbalances and disorders are disorders of the muscles and functions of the face and mouth. These can directly and/or indirectly affect breastfeeding, growth and development of the facial skeleton, mastication, swallowing, resting position of the tongue, speech- phonemic articulation, occlusion, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) movements, oral hygiene, stability of orthodontic treatment, facial aesthetics and others. The correct swallowing mechanism depends on the correct relationship between the muscles of the face, mouth and pharyngo-laryngeal region, but also on a balance of the entire body system. Another important element that must be taken into account, in particular, is the resting position of the tongue. Dysfunctional swallowing - refers to a condition in which there is an alteration of the mouth-lingual movements in the act of swallowing. Balancing the oro-facial musculature through education - re-education of deviant swallowing, breathing and mastication difficulties, phonatory verbal articulation alterations, malocclusion and painful symptoms of the temporomandibular joint, in different age groups is done through TMF (Myofunctional Therapy). Myofunctional therapy can lead to stable correction of swallowing abnormalities, with positive effects for correcting speech articulation disorders.

Articulation-Function-Associated Cortical Developmental Changes in Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate.

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) is one of the most common craniofacial malformations. Overall, 40-80% of CLP patients have varying degrees of articulation problems after palatoplasty. Previous studies revealed abnormal articulation-related brain function in CLP patients. However, the association between articulation disorders and cortical structure development in CLP patients remains unclear. Twenty-six CLP adolescents (aged 5-14 years; mean 8.88 years; female/male 8/18), twenty-three CLP adults (aged 18-35 years; mean 23.35 years; female/male 6/17), thirty-seven healthy adolescents (aged 5-16 years; mean 9.89 years; female/male 5/16), and twenty-two healthy adults (aged 19-37 years; mean 24.41 years; female/male 19/37) took part in the experiment. The current study aims to investigate developmental changes in cortical structures in CLP patients with articulation disorders using both structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our results reveal the distinct distribution of abnormal cortical structures in adolescent and adult CLP patients. We also found that the developmental pattern of cortical structures in CLP patients differed from the pattern in healthy controls (delayed cortical development in the left lingual gyrus (t = 4.02, cluster-wise p < 0.05), inferior temporal cortex (z = -4.36, cluster-wise p < 0.05) and right precentral cortex (t = 4.19, cluster-wise p < 0.05)). Mediation analysis identified the cortical thickness of the left pericalcarine cortex as the mediator between age and articulation function (partial mediation effect (a*b = -0.48), 95% confident interval (-0.75, -0.26)). In conclusion, our results demonstrate an abnormal developmental pattern of cortical structures in CLP patients, which is directly related to their articulation disorders.

Some antisocial variables on academic performance of elementary school pupils with hearing impairment and articulation disorders in Lagos state, Nigeria

Some antisocial variables on academic performance of elementary school pupils with hearing impairment and articulation disorders in Lagos state, Nigeria

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Video-Modeling for Teaching Articulation in Verbal Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Verbal children with autism often present communication difficulties such as articulation disorders. As a result they are not able to communicate effectively and sometimes their attempts to communicate may take the form of challenging behaviors. Previous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of video-modeling in increasing the communication skills in verbal children with autism. Moreover other studies have shown that video-modeling, as a treatment package, can maintain strength and generalize all the newly learned skills. In this study, we will extend the use of video-modeling across 3 verbal children who have been diagnosed with autism and simultaneously exhibit articulation disorders in phoneme /r/ in three different positions within words. We will implement multiple baseline design across behaviors (i.e., target phoneme at the beginning, middle, and end of the words). The effectiveness will be evaluated by focusing on pre to follow-up changes of our participants&amp;rsquo; articulation.

Study on brain mechanism of rehabilitation training of articulation disorder in cleft lip and palate patients based on functional magnetic resonance imaging

The cleft lip and palate (CLP) is one of the most common craniofacial malformations in humans. We collected functional magnetic resonance data of 23 CLP patients before rehabilitation training (Bclp) and 23 CLP patients after rehabilitation training (Aclp), who were performing Chinese character pronunciation tasks, and performed brain activation analysis to explore the changes of brain mechanism in CLP patients after articulation disorder rehabilitation training. The study found that Aclp group had significant activation in the motor cortex, Broca area, Wernicke area and cerebellum. While the Bclp group had weak activation in the motor cortex with a small activation range. By comparing the differences and co-activated brain regions between the two groups, we found that rehabilitation training increased the activity level of negatively activated brain areas (cerebellum, left motor area, Wernicke area, etc.) to a positive level. At the same time, the activity level of weakly activated brain areas (right motor area, Broca area, etc.) was also increased. Rehabilitation training promoted the activity level of articulation-related brain regions. So that the activation intensity of articulation-related brain regions can be used as a quantifiable objective evaluation index to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation training, which is of great significance for the formulation of rehabilitation training programs.

Oral Communication Skills of Grade VI Learners

The study focused on the oral communication skills along with articulation disorders among Grade VI learners of Balong Elementary School. It significantly analyzed the common errors committed by the respondents along articulation disorders. The study used the descriptive-qualitative type of research method. The data were gathered through administering an oral reading assessment with the use of a passage lifted from the Phil-IRI Module entitled “Galileo, The Scientist” consists of 89 words. It was found out in the study that the level of proficiency of most of the learners in oral communication falls under instructional level. The frequency of errors in oral communication disorders along articulation disorder shows that “imperfect production of phonetic elements” has the most committed error with 306 or 56.77%. “Omission of certain speech sound” ranks second with 119 or 22.08% errors. Third is “substitutions” with 98 or 18.18%. Fourth is “distortions” with 10 or 1.86% and the least is the “baby talk” with 6 0r 1.11%. Based on the findings, the following conclusions are drawn: a) Some of the learners are not well-versed enough in reading sight words; b) imperfect production of phonetic elements or mispronunciation as the most common error committed; specifically, on pronouncing words with long /a/, soft /th/, and vowels ‘ou’ with schwa /Ə/ sound; c) the most common factor affecting the oral communication skills of the learners is “lack of reading experience in school and at home”; and d) to minimize or avoid the errors in oral communication, intervening activities may be implemented.

Experimental Analysis of the Effectiveness of a Cyber-physical Robotic System to Assist Speech and Language Pathologists in High School

This research focuses on whether the use of a cyber-physical robotic system (CPRS) to assist Speech and Language Pathologists (SLP) in a Special Education service is beneficial. The research method is based on a quasi-experiment with a 2k design and a two-way ANOVA, implemented with real high school students over 10 weeks. It was found that the use of this CPRT could improve, preliminarily and as an initial exploratory finding, therapeutic speech effectiveness up to 11.3 percentage points with a statistical confidence of 95%, when SLPs work with students with mild articulation disorder and a restricted time for therapy, but especially when the technology is used without time constraints. It is concluded that assistive CPRT could be a causal factor of improvement in specific treatments performed by SLPs, with the statistical evidence being sufficiently significant (95%) to maintain scientific and educational interest in this research line in the future.

Genetic background of dyslexia and dysgraphy in children

The review is devoted to one of the current problems of pediatric neurology - reading and writing disorders in children as part of a partial developmental disorder. With the development of neuroscience, the paradigm of «brain damage» in the understanding of a number of pathological conditions was replaced by the concept of «evolutionary neurology». The dominance of the ontogenetic approach caused the appearance of a new section in ICD-11 - «Neurodevelopmental disorders». Twenty-one genes associated with the acquisition of reading and writing skills have been identified. Modern studies demonstrate the connection of neuropsychological prerequisites for reading and writing, and clinical phenotypes of dyslexia with changes in specific loci. It is assumed that there are different molecular genetic bases for dyslexia and dysgraphia depending on ethnicity, orthographic features of language, including logographic features. Pleiotropy of genes is a cause of comorbidity of reading and writing disorders with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, specific speech articulation disorders, and dyscalculia. A key function of many of the identified genes is their involvement in the processes of neurogenesis. Their dysfunctions cause atypical neuronal migration, ectopic formation, inadequate axonal growth, and dendrite branching at the early stage of brain development. Morphological changes can distort the correct distribution and/or integration of linguistic stimuli in critical brain areas, leading to abnormalities in phonology, semantics, spelling, and general reading comprehension. The knowledge gained can form the basis for the development of risk models for dysgraphia and dyslexia formation and be used as a diagnostic and/or screening tool, which is important for evidence-based correction, optimization of academic performance, and mitigation of psychosocial consequences.

Long-Term neurodevelopmental outcome after antenatal corticosteroid in late-preterm twin neonates: nationwide study

In singleton women who are at risk of late preterm delivery, consideration of antenatal corticosteroid is advocated by clinical guidelines to reduce respiratory complications. However, adoption of this practice has not been universal in twin pregnancies at risk for late preterm birth, because of lack of evidences regarding both effectiveness and long-term safety of corticosteroid in this population. In the current study, we evaluated the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of late-preterm twin neonates after administration of antenatal corticosteroid. This nationwide population-based study included twin neonates who were delivered in late preterm (34∼36+6 weeks) between 2007 and 2010 and were checked for National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children. Group 1 included neonates from mothers who were injected antenatal corticosteroid and group 2 included neonates without antenatal corticosteroid injection. The risk of long-term neurodevelopmental outcome was compared between the two groups of cases. Adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcome was defined as occurrence of at least one of the followings: autism, cerebral palsy, speech articulation disorder, developmental disorders of scholastic skills, developmental disorder of motor function, and developmental disorder. During the study period, a total of 10,078 neonates were delivered in late preterm and met the inclusion criteria: 2196 neonates in group 1 and 7882 neonates in group 2. In terms of long-term neurodevelopmental outcome, there were no statistically significant difference between the two groups (Figure). The risk of adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcome was not increased after administration of antenatal corticosteroid at late preterm twin neonates.

언어장애인의 스마트스피커 접근성 향상을 위한 개인화된 음성 분류 기법

With the spread of smart speakers based on voice recognition technology and deep learning technology, not only non-disabled people, but also the blind or physically handicapped can easily control home appliances such as lights and TVs through voice by linking home network services. This has greatly improved the quality of life. However, in the case of speech-impaired people, it is impossible to use the useful services of the smart speaker because they have inaccurate pronunciation due to articulation or speech disorders. In this paper, we propose a personalized voice classification technique for the speech-impaired to use for some of the functions provided by the smart speaker. The goal of this paper is to increase the recognition rate and accuracy of sentences spoken by speech-impaired people even with a small amount of data and a short learning time so that the service provided by the smart speaker can be actually used. In this paper, data augmentation and one cycle learning rate optimization technique were applied while fine-tuning ResNet18 model. Through an experiment, after recording 10 times for each 30 smart speaker commands, and learning within 3 minutes, the speech classification recognition rate was about 95.2%.

The Effect of Speech Sound Disorders on Language, Literacy, and Nonverbal Mathematical Thinking Skills of 6-Year-Old Children

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of speech sound disorders on the development of language, literacy, and nonverbal mathematical thinking skills. Methods: 1,474 children who participated in both the ‘Three-Sentence-Screening Test for Korean speech sound disorders’ and ‘Academic Skills: Language and Literacy Ability, and Non-Language Mathematical Thinking’ as part of the Panel Study on Korean Children (7th year, age 6) were targeted. Through the ‘Three-Sentence-Screening Test for Korean speech sound disorders’, the severity of speech sound disorder was classified into four groups (general, slight speech error, recommendation of deep examination, and suspected articulation disorder); and scores for three academic abilities (language and literacy, non-verbal mathematical thinking) measurement variables were compared through multivariate analysis (MANOVA) and one-way analysis (ANOVA). Results: At the age of 6, it was confirmed that the severity of speech sound disorders had a significant effect on all aspects of language, literacy, and non-verbal mathematical thinking skills. Conclusion: The results of these studies are consistent with the results of existing studies that have found that speech sound disorders acted as a variable affecting language, literacy, and mathematical thinking in existing studies. Therefore, it may be necessary to identify children with speech sound disorders early in the pre-school age period and to observe their language and academic ability more carefully to support them.

Effectiveness of the Superiorly Based Pharyngeal Flap in Treating Velopharyngeal Insufficiency.

A retrospective cohort study included patients with VPI post cleft palate repair who underwent secondary speech surgery. The criteria were based on clinical symptoms, physical examination, nasometry, and videofluoroscopy/nasoendoscopy findings. Data were analyzed by using SPSS program, version 22.0. A P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Thirty-five patients were identified. VPI was reduced to 14.3% postoperatively. Before the surgery 25.7% of the patients had severe hypernasality, 68.6% had moderate hypernasality, and 5.7% had mild hypernasality. After the surgery, only 8.6% of the patients still had severe hypernasality, 22.9% had moderate hypernasality, 57.1% had mild hypernasality, and hypernasality became absent in 11.4%. Articulation disorders were present in 91.4% of patients before surgery, and decreased to 71.4% postoperatively. Speech intelligibility improved postoperatively in comparison with preoperative findings. The present study concluded that the superiorly based pharyngeal flap was successful in treating VPI that persisted post cleft palate repair.

Speech Disorder in Anterior Open Bite (AOB): Systematic Review

There have been numerous researches showing that articulation disorders and malocclusion are linked. The most prevalent malocclusion in speech or articulation disorders is anterior open bite (AOB). Excessive propulsion of the tongue forward when articulating phonemes causes altered articulation in patients with open bites, as the tongue is in a more forward posture. The presence of this speech disorder can have a negative impact on a person's quality of life, although there hasn't been much research done on the impacts of AOB in cases of speech disorders in children. This study was to look at the link between speech disorders and the occurrence of anterior open bites (AOB) in a comprehensive way. Search results of research on four databases, namely ScienDirect, PubMed, Spingerlink, and Google Scholar, are displayed. The keywords used include speech disorder, articulation disorder, open bite, anterior open bite. Five articles were selected using case control and cross-sectional methods in their research. The sample with AOB in this study was analyzed to determine the presence of speech disorders. The five articles gave similar results, showing that patients with malocclusion, especially AOB, had a tendency to have speech disorders. Articulation disorders in the phoneme /s/z/d/l/t/ become the dominant problem experienced by patients with AOB. Anterior open bite (AOB) is a form of malocclusion that causes more articulation disorders than other malocclusions. The presence and position of the tongue are thought to have a substantial influence on articulation disorders.

Language Ability to Predict Subtypes of Speech Sound Disorder

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there are differences in vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, and early literacy skills according to subgroups of speech sound disorders (SSDs). Additionally, this study attempted to examine whether language ability could predict the subtype of SSDs suggested by Dodd’s model for differential diagnosis. Methods: Sixty-two children with SSDs aged 3-9 years were classified into groups with articulation disorders (AD), phonological delays (PD), and consistent/inconsistent phonological disorders (CPD/IPD). Vocabulary and grammar skills were evaluated, and pragmatics and early literacy skills was evaluated based on parental reports. Results: Children with SSDs exhibited significant differences in receptive/expressive vocabulary, receptive/expressive grammar, and early reading performance; but no significant differences were found in pragmatics and early writing. In general, children with AD showed significantly better performance in language than children within the other SSD subgroups, and the children with IPD showed lowest performance. This study showed that grammar was the best predictor of the subtypes of children with SSDs and was most vulnerable to children with SSDs. Conclusion: This study is significant in investigating and examining all aspects of language - vocabulary, grammar, pragmatics, and early literacy - of children with SSDs. This study suggests that the reception and expression of the grammar skills of children with SSDs should be evaluated in the clinical field.

Phonological Error Patterns in Subgroups of Speech Sound Disorders

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate phonological error patterns from multisyllable words in subgroups of speech sound disorders (SSDs) classified by linguistic symptomatology, and to examine whether underlying deficits of each subgroup of SSDs could be identified through phonological error patterns. Methods: The 2-5-syllable words, which a total of 120 children with SSDs from 3 years to 9 years 11 months produced, were analyzed; and phonological error patterns were determined. Phonological error patterns were categorized into whole word error patterns, segmental (consonants and vowels), and distortion error patterns, as well as into developmental and non-developmental error patterns. Statistical analyses were performed to determine whether the subgroups of SSDs show differences in the occurrence ratio of each category. Results: Children with articulation disorders showed a relatively higher ratio of distortions compared to children of other subgroups, which confirms that articulation disorders are related to deficits in motoric level. Children with inconsistent phonological disorders were characterized with higher ratio of whole word error patterns, which may indicate their sequencing difficulties. Children with consistent or inconsistent phonological disorders showed a higher ratio of non-developmental error patterns which may reflect their weakness in phonological representations. Conclusion: This study supported the position that phonological error pattern analysis could allow us to know the underlying deficits which children with SSDs show in speech processing levels and ultimately to understand subgroups of SSDs.

The Use of the ICF Classification Sheet to Assess Cognitive-Behavioral Disorders and Verbal Communication in Patients after Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke during Rehabilitation.

Background: In patients after experiencing stroke, the cognitive-behavioral deficits and disorders of verbal communication limit the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The key is to diagnose them at an early stage of rehabilitation and to implement appropriate psychological and speech therapy. Objective: Identify differences in the frequency and effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral disorder therapy depending on the clinical type of stroke, assessed before and after rehabilitation treatment, and their presentation using the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health) classification. Materials and Methods: The study was prospective and included the analysis of cognitive-behavioral and verbal communication disorders. The study consisted of 47 patients after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and 47 patients after an ischemic stroke (IS) before the implementation of rehabilitation and after completing a 4-week rehabilitation. Results: In the group after ICH, psychological therapy significantly reduced the disturbances of consciousness and orientation (p < 0.001) and improved the speed of performing tasks in tests (p < 0.001). In patients after IS and ICH, memory and attention function improved significantly (p < 0.001). Moreover, in patients after ICH, language function deficits decreased significantly (p = 0.018). Mood disturbances were maintained in 17% of patients after ICH and 40% of patients after IS (p = 0.007). Speech therapy reduced speech articulation disorders and aphasia in 85% of patients after ICH (p = 0.001) and in 68% of patients after IS (p = 0.033). Conclusions: The frequency and type of cognitive-behavioral and verbal communication disorders vary depending on the history of ICH or IS. The ICF classification may be useful in assessing and analyzing cognitive-behavioral and verbal communication disorders, which may lead to the implementation of appropriate psychological and speech therapy at an early stage of rehabilitation and increase the effectiveness of the therapy.

A neurophonetic approach to articulation planning: The case of apraxia of speech

This article addresses the question of whether data from neurological populations can inform basic phonetic research. An approach is reviewed in which speech error data from patients with articulation disorders after a stroke were used to model articulation planning processes.The first section addresses a controversy in cognitive neuroscience about the extent to which data from neurological patients can enrich research in cognitive science at all. It introduces post-stroke apraxia of speech (AOS) as a clinical model of a process termed speech motor planning, suggesting that speech data from patients with AOS can inform phonetic theories about articulatory control.The second section explains how speech error data from patients with AOS were used to develop a measure of articulatory ease that integrates facilitating and complicating factors across different phonological levels, from the articulatory gesture to the phonological word.Section 3 presents previously unpublished data to exemplify how this model can be applied to typical speech, e.g., in studies investigating interactions between lexical and articulatory parameters or in developmental studies of word learning. In a final section, the main line of reasoning is summarized and limitations of this work are discussed.

Speech and Reading Disorders Screening, and Problems in Structure and Function of Articulation Organs in Children in Mashhad City, Iran

Objectives: Investigating the prevalence of speech and language disorders and the contributing factors can help determine the best treatment options suited to the needs of these patients. So far, no comprehensive study has been conducted on screening speech and reading disorders and Problems in the Structure and Function of Articulation Organs (PSFAOs) in children in Mashhad City, Iran. This study aims to screen for these disorders and investigate the effects of demographic factors on such disorders. Methods: Via the stratified-cluster sampling method, 2770 native Persian-speaking children participated in this study, of whom 1381 were girls and 1389 were boys, ranging from preschool to the third grade (3 to 9 years old). After obtaining the demographic information, the PSFAOs screening was performed for all participants using a semi-structured questionnaire taken from Paul et al.’s report (2017). Screening for a grade of dysphonia was then carried out for children with suspected voice disorders using the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain test. Fluency of speech screening for children with suspected fluency disorders was performed using the stuttering severity instrument – fourth edition test, and screening of reading skills for school children was performed using the screening inventory reading test. Analytical analysis was performed via the Chi-square test between study variables, including disorders and other variables. Two types of logistic regression models were used. The data were analyzed using survey data analysis of the Stata software, version 14.1, and P&lt;0.05 was considered significant. Results: The prevalence of articulation disorders, voice disorders, stuttering, PSFAOs, reading disorders, and multiple disorders (presence of two or more disorders per person) was 1.62%, 1.99%, 1.69%, 1.1%, 8.21%, and 14.89%, respectively. Descriptive analysis showed that the prevalence of articulation disorders, voice disorders, stuttering, and multiple disorders was higher in boys compared to girls (P=0.000), while the prevalence of reading disorders and PSFAOs was higher in girls (P=0.000). Furthermore, articulation disorders and reading disorders were more common in first-graders. The prevalence of voice disorders, stuttering, and PSFAOs were higher in the third graders. The logistic regression analysis showed that boys were more likely to develop speech and language disorders compared to girls (OR=1.3, P=0.01), and first-, second-, and third-graders were less likely to have such disorders when compared to preschoolers (OR=0.8, P=0.03). Discussion: Compared to previous studies, the different rates of prevalence of the disorders studied in this investigation are related to differences in their methodology, the number of samples, age, linguistic and cultural characteristics of the subjects, and individual factors. In this study, the prevalence of the studied disorders was higher in boys, first-graders, and children with families of 4 or more. The development of speech and language skills is different between genders; slower maturation of male brains seems to predispose them to slower development of speech skills. The lower prevalence in school-age children may be because these disorders gradually resolve during the early years of childhood. Moreover, low family socioeconomic status and family size may be the contributing factors to speech and language disorders.