Can clinical judgement detect children with speech-language problems ?

Pediatricians often rely on clinical judgment derived from observation or parental concern to identify children with developmental problems. The less popular but recommended alternative is to repeatedly administer standardized screening tests. Such tests are time consuming but, unlike clinical judgm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pediatrics (Evanston) 1991-03, Vol.87 (3), p.317-322
Main Author: GLASCOE, F. P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Infant
Judgment
Language acquisition
Language Development Disorders - diagnosis
Male
Medical sciences
Parents - psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Speech disorders
Speech Disorders - diagnosis
Testing
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Summary:Pediatricians often rely on clinical judgment derived from observation or parental concern to identify children with developmental problems. The less popular but recommended alternative is to repeatedly administer standardized screening tests. Such tests are time consuming but, unlike clinical judgment, have known detection rates. Preliminary research concerning clinical judgment showed that clusters of parental concerns related to their childrens' performances on screening tests. In the present study, previous research was refined by assessment of the meaning of parents' concerns about their childrens' speech-language development. In this study of 157 families seeking pediatric care, 72% of children whose speech-language screening yielded positive results had parents who were concerned about their speech-language development. Of children with negative screening results, 83% had parents with no concerns about their speech-language development. Although standardized screening tests should be used occasionally in the developmental surveillance process, the findings show that the problems of most children with developmental problems were detected through clinical judgment based on parental concern.
ISSN:0031-4005
1098-4275
DOI:10.1542/peds.87.3.317