London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1961
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Overall, for children with more than one child in the family, second and third children
have a higher incidence of defective speech than do first and later children; this applies to
both boys and girls. With boys this tendency towards second and third children is particularly
noticeable with dyslalia, extending to the fourth child for general dyslalia; for
stammer the higher incidence extends to first, second or third children. A similar pattern
obtains for girls, though the numbers are smaller and do not have the same significance.
Table (vii) shows age at admission by severity of selected defect. The sexes are shown
separately.
Table (vii)—
| Defect | Degree of severity | Sex | Approximate age* at admission | Total children | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | ||||
| Stammer | Severe | b | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 8 | - | - | 48 | |||
| g | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||
| Moderate | b | 11 | 23 | 56 | 64 | 66 | 48 | 42 | 41 | 34 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 439 | |
| g | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Slight | b | 47 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 29 | 13 | 9 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 230 | ||
| g | |||||||||||||||||
| Dyslalia simple | Moderate | b | - | 1 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 29 | |||
| g | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||
| Slight | b | 12 | 39 | 74 | 62 | 57 | 36 | 41 | 27 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 463 | ||
| g | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Dyslalia multiple | Severe | b | 1 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| g | - | - | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Moderate | b | 19 | 72 | 119 | 94 | 45 | 25 | 10 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | 408 | |
| g | — | 1 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Slight | b | 12 | 24 | 40 | 35 | 35 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | 184 | |||
| g | 7 | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| Dyslalia general | Severe | b | 10 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 53 | |
| g | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| Moderate | b | 17 | 34 | 66 | 29 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 179 | |
| g | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||
| Slight | b | 3 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 4 | _- | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 37 | ||
| g | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| Total | Severe | b | 14 | 27 | 25 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 123 | ||
| Moderate | b | 47 | 130 | 246 | 191 | 126 | 87 | 60 | 61 | 13 | 26 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1,055 | |
| Slight | b | 73 | 92 | 152 | 145 | 132 | 95 | 73 | 63 | 42 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 914 | |
| Severe | g | 1 | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||
| Moderate | g | - | |||||||||||||||
| Slight | g | ||||||||||||||||
| Severe | Both | 20 | 35 | 34 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 1 | - | - | 163 | ||||
| Moderate | Both | 75 | 168 | 324 | 246 | 171 | 108 | 75 | 71 | 30 | 36 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 1,379 | |
| Slight | Both | 90 | 130 | 222 | 206 | 196 | 139 | 116 | 87 | 67 | 38 | 24 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 1,335 | |
*Age was calculated by deducting year of birth from year of admission.
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