[Communication disorders in children; experiences with a multidisciplinary outpatient diagnosis]

Communication disorders in children can be caused by impaired hearing. However, also other factors can adversely influence speech and language development, such as mental retardation, lack of language stimulation and anatomical defects of speech organs. Speech and language development can be regarded as a symptom; therefore a multidisciplinary diagnostic procedure is essential to the planning of an adequate therapy programme. In the Netherlands a great variety in diagnosis and treatment exists. A child with a communication disorder is usually seen by five specialists, and the interval between recognition of the communication problem by the parents and the final diagnosis, after which therapy starts, sometimes lasts almost three years. Besides that, in a majority of cases speech and language therapy is offered. In order to change this process for the better a prospective research programme was started in the Academic Hospital Groningen, the Netherlands, with a protocolled multidisciplinary diagnostic approach. The first findings are encouraging: 89% of 209 children with supposed communication disorders were diagnosed after one visit to the outpatient clinic.