Speech disorders in students in Belo Horizonte.
OBJECTIVE
To describe speech disorders in students from 1st to 4th grades, and to investigate possible associations between these disorders and stomatognathic system and auditory processing disorders.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study with stratified random sample composed of 288 students, calculated based on an universe of 1,189 children enrolled in public schools from the area covered by a health center in Belo Horizonte. The median age was 8.9 years, and 49.7% were male. Assessment used a stomatognathic system protocol adapted from the Myofunctional Evaluation Guidelines, the Phonology task of the ABFW - Child Language Test, and a simplified auditory processing evaluation. Data were statistically analyzed.


RESULTS
From the subjects studied, 31.9% had speech disorder. From these, 18% presented phonetic deviation, 9.7% phonological deviation, and 4.2% phonetic and phonological deviation. Linguistic variation was observed in 38.5% of the children. There was a higher proportion of children with phonetic deviation in 1st grade, and a higher proportion of children younger than 8 years old with both phonetic and phonological deviations. Phonetic deviation was associated to stomatognathic system disorder, and phonological deviation was associated to auditory processing disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of speech disorders in 1st to 4th grade students is considered high. Moreover, these disorders are associated to other Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology alterations, which suggest that one disorder may be a consequence of the other, indicating the need for early diagnosis and intervention.
Graduate Program in Health Sciences: Child and Adolescent Health, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. alessandratvr@gmail.com
Alessandra Terra Vasconcelos
AT
Rabelo
Claudia Regina Lindgren
CR
Alves
Lúcia Maria H Figueiredo
LM
Goulart
Amélia Augusta de Lima
AA
Friche
Stela Maris Aguiar
SM
Lemos
Fernanda Rodrigues
FR
Campos
Clarice Passos
CP
Friche
D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009057:Stomatognathic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*