Screening child psychiatric inpatients for communication disorders: a pilot study.
This study was part of a project concerned with speech and language disorders among child psychiatric inpatients. Twenty-two consecutively admitted children were screened and 10 were positive. Of these, nine were diagnosed with a speech or language delay, prevalence = 40.9 (9 of 22). A chart review of the preceding 2-year period showed that 27 of 128 admissions had been referred to the speech clinic and that 25 had positive findings, for a prevalence of 19.5% (25 of 128). The difference in the observed prevalence in these two studies was significant (chi 2 = 4.89, rho = .03). Standard clinical practice may miss some children with communication disorders (estimated sensitivity = 39%), while the new screening method shows promise (estimated sensitivity = 82%).
Scahill
L
L
Child Study Center, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
Jekel
J F
JF
Schilling
L S
LS
D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications*; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003237:Connecticut / Q000453:epidemiology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity