Clinical Profile of speech disorders in children with cerebral palsy: A single center study from Lahore, Pak

Abstract

Objective: To find the clinical profile of speech disorders in children with cerebral palsy at our center from Lahore, Pakistan. Methodology: This observational study was carried out at Department of Developmental Pediatrics, Children Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore from June 2016 to Dec 2016. Sample size was 153 patients of cerebral palsy. Sampling technique was the convenient sampling. Inclusion criteria was verbal children with cerebral palsy of both genders and age from 3 to 9 years. All the cerebral palsy patients who had no speech development are excluded. Data were collected with the help of self-structured questionnaire. Results: Out of 153 patients, 87 (56.9%) were males and 66 (43.1%) were females. The mean age was 6.62±1.89 years. Articulation disorder was found in 77 (50.3%), stammering in 56 (36.3%) and voice disorder in 92 (60.1%) children. Conclusions: We found a wide variety of speech disorders in children with cerebral palsy. Correct diagnosis of sub type of speech disorders is essential for better management and better prognosis.