Bad speech is also a disability Preface: After the official introduction of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Development of Disabled Persons in China” formulated by the State Council Working Committee for Persons with Disabilities, more and more people began to pay attention to the disabled, but few people know about speech disability. Xiao Ming is 7 years old and fell off a stroller when he was 9 months old. He was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury by the hospital and was rescued in time, leaving serious sequelae, and now he is mentally retarded and has unclear speech. In March of this year, Xiaoming went to the speech therapy department of Xiangya Second Hospital of Central South University. After examination, Xiaoming’s speech intelligibility was 2% (normal is 97, 100%), which means that Xiaoming’s speech intelligibility rate is almost 0. The speech therapist recommends that the parents go to the provincial disability association for further evaluation. I. What is speech disability? The 2006 Sample Survey of Persons with Disabilities increased the number of disability categories from six, namely, visual disability, hearing and speech disability, physical disability, intellectual disability, mental disability, and comprehensive disability, to the current seven categories. Hearing and speech disability” is divided into two categories: “hearing disability” and “speech disability”. Each type of disability is divided into four levels according to the degree of disability, namely disability level 1, disability level 2, disability level 3 and disability level 4. The newly listed “speech disability” refers to those who suffer from speech disorders that do not heal after more than one year of treatment or the duration of the disease exceeds two years, and those who cannot or have difficulty in normal speech communication activities at the age of 3 or above. B. What diseases can cause speech disability? The causes of speech disability are as follows: Down syndrome, other genetic diseases, cerebral palsy, neonatal pathological jaundice, premature birth, premature birth, very low weight, cleft palate, mental retardation, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, encephalitis, cerebral cysticercosis, postoperative laryngeal and tongue disease, hearing impairment, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, lateral sclerosis, hepatomegaly, myasthenia gravis, traumatic brain injury, birth injury, autism, epilepsy, poisoning, autism, epilepsy, poisoning, drowning, etc. What are the specific types of speech disorders? The types of speech disorders include aphasia (refers to the acquired speech function loss or impairment caused by the injury of the speech center of the brain and related parts), motor dysarthria (refers to the motor disorder of the organ of speech due to neuromuscular lesions, mainly manifesting inability to speak, difficulty in speaking, vocalization and articulation, etc.), dysarthria caused by organ structural abnormalities (refers to the dysarthria caused by the abnormal morphological structure of the organ of speech. Dysarthria: (refers to the dysarthria caused by the abnormal morphological structure of the organ. It is represented by cleft palate and post-operative lingual or maxillofacial surgery. The main manifestations are inability to speak, excessive nasality, and slurred articulation, etc.) Vocal disorders (refers to loss of voice, vocal difficulties, hoarseness, etc. due to organic lesions of the respiratory system and larynx). Delayed speech development of children (refers to the state that children’s speech development lags behind their actual age during the growth and development process, mainly manifesting inability to speak, late speech, unclear pronunciation, etc.) Speech disorders due to hearing impairment (refers to speech disorders due to hearing impairment. The main manifestation is inability to speak or slurred pronunciation.) Stuttering (This is a disorder of speech fluency. It is often manifested as prolonged speech, repetition, stammering and facial and other behavioral changes, etc.). 4. How to prevent speech disability? The prevention of speech disability should adopt a three-tier prevention system. The key to primary prevention is social prevention, secondary prevention is to adopt the “three early” (early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment) to limit or reverse the condition, and tertiary prevention focuses on establishing a complete rehabilitation system. The prevention and treatment of hearing impairment is the most important factor to reduce speech disability; clean environment and interruption of encephalitis transmission can help to reduce primary speech disability caused by encephalitis; active control of risk factors in the elderly population to reduce the incidence of cerebral infarction is also an important means to reduce speech disability. The active control of risk factors in the elderly population to reduce the incidence of cerebral infarction is also an important means to reduce speech disability. V. How is speech disability assessed? Speech disability requires specially trained professionals in speech investigation, and professional speech therapists and provincial and municipal disability federations can be consulted for specific matters. What should I do if I find out that I have a speech disability? After a speech disability is detected, treatment and speech training should be started as soon as possible, and a professional speech therapist should be consulted for regular speech rehabilitation evaluation, diagnosis and treatment. If necessary, communication boards, communicators, vocal speech aids, etc. should be provided. If patients with speech disabilities receive more standardized and systematic speech therapy at the early stage of clinical consultation, speech disabilities can be minimized and more patients with speech disabilities can regain their communication skills.