Factors associated with the development of psychiatric illness in children with early speech/language problems

Abstract

This paper reports on the correlates of psychiatric illness in children with speech and language disorders. Of 600 children selected from a community speech clinic, 50% were found to have diagnosable psychiatric disorders according to DSM-III criteria. These "psychiatrically ill" children were compared to the "psychiatrically well" children in the sample on a variety of developmental, socioeconomic, medical, and psychosocial factors. Although some differences were found between the well and ill children in other factors, the majority of the differences, and the most highly significant differences, were found in areas of linguistic functioning. It is hypothesized that this finding may be relevant not only to understanding the association between linguistic and psychiatric functioning but also to predicting the outcome and planning treatment for childhood speech and language disorders.

Anxiety in High-Functioning Children with Autism

“…This may be due to differences in the participants selected. For example, Stevenson and Richman (1978) selected younger children than those in the present study; and Baker and Cantwell (1987) selected a wider age range, but with a younger mean age of 5 years and 7 months. This suggests that children with language disorders may grow out of associated emotional difficulties as they get older.…”

“…Speech and language disorders have been found to be associated with high rates of psychiatric disturbance, particularly in childhood (Baker & Cantwell, 1987;Beitchman et al, 1996). An epidemiological study by Stevenson and Richman (1978) found that children with a delay in expressive language displayed significantly more behaviour problems than children with normal language development.…”

“…An epidemiological study by Stevenson and Richman (1978) found that children with a delay in expressive language displayed significantly more behaviour problems than children with normal language development. Baker and Cantwell (1987) screened 600 children with speech and language problems for psychiatric disturbance. A positive correlation was found, with 50 per cent of the sample displaying diagnosable psychiatric disorders.…”

“…Speech and language disorders have been found to be associated with high rates of psychiatric disturbance, particularly in childhood (Baker & Cantwell, 1987;Beitchman et al, 1996). Moreover, some studies have found disorders of expressive language to be specifically implicated in the development of these difficulties (Baker & Cantwell, 1987;Stevenson & Richman, 1978). Thus, for the language disorder group, findings from the present study do not support previous research findings.…”

Interrelationships Among Language Skills, Externalizing Behavior, and Academic Fluency and Their Impact on the Academic Skills of Students With ED

“…Nelson and colleagues reported that the language deficits of students with ED were stable across age (Nelson, Benner, & Cheney, 2005). Because successful language acquisition is a prerequisite for successful academic learning in all areas (Baker & Cantwell, 1987;Catts, Fey, Xuyang, & Tomblin, 1999), the language deficits of students with ED are likely to have a negative influence on their academic achievement.…”