The Efficacy of Speech and Language Therapy for Children with Speech and Language Delays according to the Eiologies / 소아과

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Treatment efficacy for children with speech and language delay has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. We evaluated the clinical features of children with delayed speech and language and their prognoses according to their etiologies after 6 months of speech and language therapy. METHODS: From January, 2000 to March, 2004, we retrospectively reviewed 56 children with speech and language delay who were administered speech and language therapy for 6 months in Uijongbu St. Mary's Hospital. RESULTS: Of 56 cases, the proportion of developmental language disorder was 66.1 percent, structural malformation 19.6 percent, mental retardation 12.5 percent, hearing defect 1.8 percent. The ratio of male to female was 4.6 1 and the most frequent age group was over 47 months. The mean age of first spontaneous words with useful meaning was 15.9 months. The mean gestational age of the subjects was 39.8 weeks. The proportion of full-term infants was 96.4 percent and of premature infants was 3.6 percent. As for the birth order, the proportion of the first baby was 51.8 percent, the one of second babies it was 42.9 percent, and percent of third babies it was 7.1 percent. After 6 months of language intervention, 32.4 percent of patients with developmental language disorder showed normal linguistic development. All the patients with mental retardation showed sustained language and speech delay. As for the patients with structural malformations, five out of 11 patients showed normal linguistic development. CONCLUSION: The relatively advanced old age of majority of participants in this study suggests the necessity of screening test for language delay in this local community.