MCcormack Jane Margaret, Verdon Sarah Elizabeth
School of Community Health, Charles Sturt University , Australia.
Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2015 Jun;17(3):273-86. doi: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1034175. Epub 2015 Apr 23.
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a population-based measure of children's development across five domains in the first year of formal schooling. In this study, the AEDC data from two domains (Language and Cognitive Skills and Communication Skills and General Knowledge) were used to explore the extent and distribution of vulnerability in communication skills among children in Australian communities. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) membership data were then used to explore the accessibility of services within those communities.
The 2012 AEDC data were accessed for 289,973 children, living in 577 communities across Australia. The number of children identified as "at risk" (10-25(th) percentile) or developmentally "vulnerable" (< 10(th) percentile) in each of the domains was calculated, then the location of communities with high proportions (> 20%) of these children was determined. These data were mapped against the location of paediatric speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to identify the number of communities with little to no access to speech-language pathology services.
Across Australia, there were 47,636 children (17.4%) identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in Language and Cognitive Skills and 69,153 children (25.3%) in Communication Skills and General Knowledge. There were 27 communities with > 20% of children identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in Language and Cognition in their first year of formal schooling. Of those, none had access to speech-language pathology services, according to current SPA membership data. There were also 27 local government areas with > 20% of children identified as developmentally vulnerable/at risk in the Communication Skills and General Knowledge domain. Of these, three had access to SLP(s) and these were in regional/metropolitan areas.
The AEDC provides a means of identifying communities where children are performing well and communities which may benefit from population-based prevention or intervention. Given the number of communities within Australia without access to SLPs, there is a need to reconsider how such population-based services could be delivered, particularly in the communities with higher levels of vulnerability in communication development.
澳大利亚早期发展普查（AEDC）是一项基于人口的对儿童在正式入学第一年五个领域发展情况的衡量指标。在本研究中，使用了来自两个领域（语言与认知技能以及沟通技能与常识）的AEDC数据，以探究澳大利亚社区儿童沟通技能方面脆弱性的程度和分布情况。随后利用澳大利亚言语病理学协会（SPA）的会员数据，来探究这些社区内服务的可及性。
获取了居住在澳大利亚577个社区的289,973名儿童的2012年AEDC数据。计算了每个领域中被确定为“有风险”（第10至25百分位数）或发育“脆弱”（低于第10百分位数）的儿童数量，然后确定这些儿童比例较高（>20%）的社区位置。将这些数据与儿科言语语言病理学家（SLP）的位置进行比对，以确定几乎无法获得或完全无法获得言语语言病理学服务的社区数量。
在澳大利亚，有47,636名儿童（17.4%）在语言与认知技能方面被确定为发育脆弱/有风险，69,153名儿童（25.3%）在沟通技能与常识方面被确定为发育脆弱/有风险。有27个社区，其在正式入学第一年有超过20%的儿童在语言与认知方面被确定为发育脆弱/有风险。根据当前的SPA会员数据，其中没有一个社区能够获得言语语言病理学服务。还有27个地方政府区域，其在沟通技能与常识领域有超过20%的儿童被确定为发育脆弱/有风险。其中，有三个区域能够获得SLP服务，且这些区域位于地区/大都市地区。
AEDC提供了一种识别儿童表现良好的社区以及可能从基于人群的预防或干预中受益的社区的方法。鉴于澳大利亚有许多社区无法获得SLP服务，有必要重新考虑如何提供此类基于人群的服务，特别是在沟通发展方面脆弱性较高的社区。
