Abstract:

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the diagnoses, sociodemographic and clinical features of patients who applied to the child psychiatry outpatient clinic with speech delay, and to determine the relationship between these features and psychiatric diagnoses. Materials and Methods: The data from 152 patients presented with speech delay were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the participants including; birth history, comorbidities, caregiver information, bilingualism, screen exposure, family history of speech delay, parental psychopathology and psychiatric diagnoses were examined. Results: Of the 152 participants 78.9% (n=120) were boys and the mean age was 34.6±8.2 months. The rate of being exposed to the screen (more than one hour) was 55.9%, the presence of a family history of speech delay was 36.2%, and the presence of psychopathology was 28.9%. Of the children with speech delay, 36.2% were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 27.0% with stimulus deficiency (SD), 20.4% with cognitive developmental delay (CDD) and 16.4% with language disorder (LD). Family history of speech delay was found to be higher in the groups diagnosed with ASD and SD. Chronic medical disease was higher in CDD and ASD groups and screen exposure was higher in the SD group compared to the other groups. Conclusion: This study is important in terms of knowing the psychiatric diagnoses and rates of children with speech delay, determining the factors that may affect this condition, and taking preventive measures in the early period.

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