Prevalence of Students with Speech and Language Disorders, Including Dysphonia and Dysgraphia, in Early Learning Environments at the Elementary Level

Abstract

The study focuses on first to fifth-grade children and investigates speech and language disorders, which include dysphonia and dysgraphia. It involved the assessment of 400 students from public and private schools. The Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) was used to identify speech disorders; the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) was utilized for the detection of dysphonia, and the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) was employed for the identification of dysgraphia. The outcomes of the research indicated that 35% of the students were diagnosed with a speech disorder, 25% had dysphonia, and 32.5% were found to be dysgraphics. The demographic analysis revealed that the differences between boys and girls were not statistically significant, but variations in prevalence rates at different grade levels were noted. The study emphasizes a strong call for the recognition of these issues and the implementation of the intervention in the educational institutions at the earliest possible time, as they have an adverse effect on students' academic performance and social skills development. The results of the study shed light on the necessity of establishing thorough and regular checks for speech, voice, and writing disorders in early ‍‌education.