Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children

Abstract

This epidemiologic study estimated the prevalence of specific language impairment (SLI) in monolingual English-speaking kindergarten children. From a stratified cluster sample in rural, urban, and suburban areas in the upper midwest, 7,218 children were screened. The language screening failure rate was 26.2%. Children who failed the screening and a similar number of controls were then administered a diagnostic battery (n = 2,084) that provided for a diagnosis of SLI using common diagnostic standards. Results provided an estimated overall prevalence rate of 7.4%. The prevalence estimate for boys was 8% and for girls 6%. Variation in prevalence was found among children of different racial/cultural backgrounds; however, these background variables were found to be correlated with parental education, which was also associated with SLI. The parents of 29% of the children identified as SLI reported they had previously been informed that their child had a speech or language problem. The prevalence estimates obtained fell within recent estimates for SLI, but demonstrated that this condition is more prevalent among females than has been previously reported. Also, the clinical identification of these children remains low among kindergarteners.

Figures

Figure 1

A diagram of flow of participants through the screening and diagnostic phases of the study design.

Figure 2

Means and standard deviations on the language screening test of children who participated and children who did not participate in the diagnostic phase.

Figure 3

Prevalence rates of SLI among children who passed and failed the language screening and the resulting estimated prevalence rate for the sample of children screened.

Figure 4

Prevalence of SLI across racial/ethnic groups.