title: Child maltreatment: a global issue.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article explains why children with speech and language impairments are at increased risk for having experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma and how maltreatment may vary across cultures.
  
  
  METHODS
  International literature on maltreatment is reviewed in order to provide frameworks for identifying what constitutes maltreatment across cultures; how cultural variations in discipline practices impact maltreatment; and professionals' roles in treatment when they encounter children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or trauma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Speech-language pathologists and audiologists are required to document and report any instance of suspected child abuse. To intervene effectively with children and families from diverse cultures who experience maltreatment, professionals must understand when a practice causes harm and be able to modify childrearing practices in culturally acceptable ways.
authors.affiliation: carol_westby@att.net
authors.forename: Carol E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Westby
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002668:Child Rearing; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000208:ethnology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D008016:Life Change Events; D012307:Risk Factors; D012945:Social Values; D012951:Socialization; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology