Many children need a speech therapy

Every fourth six-year-old is in speech therapy

12/20/2013

Speech development is making tremendous progress in children over the age of three. By the second birthday, a child speaks an average of 100 words. Two years later, the vocabulary has already risen to 2,000 words. For the fourth birthday, some children already form multi-chained main and subordinate clauses. The rest usually retire during the first two years of school. Nevertheless, it is important for children to be able to speak correctly at the start of school. Generally, boys need more support in learning than girls.

As part of the 2013 Remedies Report, the AOK's Scientific Institute (WIdO) found that one in four six-year-old boys needed speech therapy. For girls, the proportion is only 17 percent. Compared to 2007, there has been an increase of about five percent. At that time there were still 20 percent of boys who needed therapeutic help. „We see that every year more children need temporary therapeutic support for healthy, age-appropriate development“, explained Helmut Schröder, Deputy WIdO Managing Director.

In order to be effective against speech delays, it is advisable to start with speech therapy in the first decade of life of the children. Disruptions in language development must be counteracted as early as possible. The older the children are, the harder they are to make a difference. In the group of six-year-olds, most of the medical prescriptions for language therapy can be found. In 2012, about 25 percent of AOK-insured boys in this age group had a speech therapy, whereas in the same age girls only 17 percent were in the age at which most are enrolled. Overall, two-thirds (67.7 percent) of all speech therapy measures were prescribed for children and adolescents up to the age of 15 years. That's what WIdO does „Speech disorders before completion of speech development“ with a share of 53 percent, the largest share of language deficits. Only follow with a clear distance „Speech disorders after completion of language development“ (13.1 percent) and treatments for articulation disorders (9 percent).

Speech therapies are steadily increasing
The proportion of prescribed speech therapies for boys and girls has risen steadily since 2007. According to WIdO, it was initially 21.2 percent of boys at the age of six and 14, 7 percent of girls who took advantage of speech therapy services, today, the values ​​are around five percentage points higher. The Remedies Report 2013 also shows that boys receive above-average frequency of speech therapy treatments. Although boys aged 14 and under only made up 6.4% of the AOK insured, in 2012 they received 42% of all speech therapy services.

Prevent health problems as early as possible
The experts see in the still increasing prescription quantities of speech therapies for children, a special requirement requirement in the transition between kindergarten and primary school. In the future, changing learning models could help to tackle the problem. „Behavioral and preventative measures in kindergartens and schools as well as in the parents' home are just as important in preventing health problems in their early years, "continues the WIdO Managing Director.

Positive emotions generally help with learning
Children only learn sustainably if they combine positive emotions with what they have learned, according to findings from brain research. Emotions that are directly related to everyday life have the best effect. Sometimes a loving atmosphere works wonders. However, parents should by no means harass their children before starting school with language and writing exercises, according to experts. The basis for the Remedies Report 2013 was the data from around 35 million remedy recipes, which were extensively analyzed. These were issued to about 70 million insured statutory health insurance (SHI). But not only speech therapies were among the prescribed services. There were also recipes from the fields of physiotherapy, occupational therapy and podiatry. The report serves to better recognize trends and thus to realize nationwide offers in the treatment of ill health, reports the WIdO. (Fr)