Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month, and today I’d like to highlight communication disorders.
The ability to communicate is our most human characteristic. Speaking, understanding and hearing are essential skills in our society, but most of us take communication for granted. Tens of thousands of people are afflicted with a communication disorder which is defined as a speech, language or hearing disorder which affects an individual’s ability to communicate. Together, speech, language and hearing disorders comprise the largest group of handicapped individuals in Canada.
Some facts to consider. One in 10 Canadians suffers from some type of communication disorder. That means two of us in this room. The first four years of life are critical for speech and language development. It’s estimated that 4 per cent of preschoolers have a significant speech or language disorder. A child should use 200 or more words by the time they’re two or three, and by the age of four and a half their vocabulary should consist of approximately 2,000 words. By age six a child with normal language skills has a vocabulary of 14,000 words. A high school student has a vocabulary of 80,000 words, and an adult has a vocabulary of 80,000 to 250,000 words. We acquire about 5,000 new words a year.
Communication disorders in school-aged children are often misdiagnosed as learning disabilities or behavioural problems, and those disorders can be very difficult to treat later on. Added to that is the fact that children with behavioural problems are ten times more likely than other children to have language disorders.
Both the incidence and the prevalence of hearing loss increase with age — unfortunately for me. The onset of adult hearing loss can start as early as the third or fourth decade of life. That’s all of us, you guys. Twenty per cent of those over the age of 65 and 40 per cent of those over 75 have a significant communication disorder. Six to 12 per cent of seniors and 80 per cent of nursing home residents experience speech, language or voice difficulties. Hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic disability among older adults, following arthritis and hypertension.
These facts seem rather depressing, but early identification and rehabilitation of speech and hearing disorders is not only possible but can also prevent communication difficulties in school, on the job and in social situations.
Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Early detection is vital and no one is too young to test, even newborns. Speech language pathologists and audiologists are specialists in diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders. Luckily, we have such specialists in the North, and if you suspect someone has a communication disorder, take them to be tested. Diagnosis and treatment will only improve their quality of life, no matter what their age.
