Article

The epidemiology of preschool speech sound disorder is poorly understood.
Our aims were to determine: the prevalence of idiopathic speech sound disorder;
the comorbidity of speech sound disorder with language and pre-literacy
difficulties; and the factors contributing to speech outcome at 4 years. METHOD:
One thousand four hundred and ninety-four participants from an Australian
longitudinal cohort completed speech, language, and pre-literacy assessments at 4
years. Prevalence of speech sound disorder (SSD) was defined by standard score
performance of </=79 on a speech assessment. Logistic regression examined
predictors of SSD within four domains: child and family; parent-reported speech;
cognitive-linguistic; and parent-reported motor skills. RESULTS: At 4 years the
prevalence of speech disorder in an Australian cohort was 3.4%. Comorbidity with
SSD was 40.8% for language disorder and 20.8% for poor pre-literacy skills. Sex,
maternal vocabulary, socio-economic status, and family history of speech and
language difficulties predicted SSD, as did 2-year speech, language, and motor
skills. Together these variables provided good discrimination of SSD (area under
the curve=0.78). INTERPRETATION: This is the first epidemiological study to
demonstrate prevalence of SSD at 4 years of age that was consistent with previous
clinical studies. Early detection of SSD at 4 years should focus on family
variables and speech, language, and motor skills measured at 2 years.
CI - (c) 2014 Mac Keith Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS