Prevalence of Stammering in School Going Children between Ages of 8 to 12 Years

Abstract

Background: Stammering is a problem and is associated with adverse, long term outcomes that impact on individual's families and academic achievement of children in the school years and affects later in adulthood. Objective: To determine the prevalence of stammering in school going children with age bracket of 8-12 years in Govt. Schools Lahore Pakistan. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1000 school going children between ages of 8-12 years through questionnaire developed by literature review and expert opinion. The data was collected from Govt. Schools Lahore. The following information was collected for each student: name, age, gender, class, school, date of birth, number of siblings, child stuttered or not. The students were asked to read paragraph of 100 syllables. The assessment of students was taken by researcher itself. Results: The prevalence of stammering in school children between ages of 8-12 years in Lahore Pakistan was 0.9% in 1000 population (boys 7: girls 2). Conclusion: The prevalence of stammering was more common among boys than girls. Keywords: Speech disorders; stammering; communication; prevalence