Prevalence of speech and language disorders in 5-year-old kindergarten children in the Ottawa-Carleton region.

A representative sample of 5-year-old kindergarten children was assessed for speech and/or language disorder. Of the 1,655 children tested, 180 were identified as having speech or language impairment. It is estimated that within the total reference population, between 16.2% and 21.8% would show some impairment; for the boys, the rate would be 15.5% to 20.7% and for the girls, between 19.1% and 25.1%. Most of these children would show some language impairment as opposed to speech problems only. Approximately 36% of the identified boys and 30% of the girls would have speech problems only, the remainder having speech and language problems or language problems only. Followup studies of these children are needed to ascertain their outcome and language status in middle childhood.