A Speech Delay in Children: Effects of Parents' Education Level and Risk Factors

ABSTRACT Introduction : Speech delay is defined as when a child is difficult to understand compared to his or her age, or characterized by a pattern of speech error sounds that are inappropriate for children his age. Children with speech delays have a higher risk of experiencing social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems in adulthood. Previous research has shown that between 2.3% and 19% of children aged 2-7 years are estimated to have speech delays. The purpose of this study was to look at the effect between parents' education level on speech delay in children and to analyze risk factors that may affect speech delay in children. Methods : The design of this study was cross sectional with a total of 95 children aged 2-7 years who came to the Medical Rehabilitation Installation, 51 children with speech delays and 44 children did not experience speech delays as controls. Results : The results of this study found that there was no statistical relationship between parents' education level and speech delays in children, both the father's education level p = 0.151 and the mother's education level p = 0.660. There was a statistically significant association between history of asphyxia (p = 0.023), comorbid presence (p = < 0.001), noise exposure (p = 0.047) and lack of stimulation (p = <0.001) on speech delay in children. Conclusion: is that there is no relationship between parents' education level and speech delays in children, influential medical factors are a history of asphyxia and the presence of comorbidities, while non-medical environmental factors that influence are noise exposure in the living environment and lack of stimulation in children.