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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Table (viii) shows other members of the family reported to have defective speech. It
will be seen that children who stammer have the highest incidence of defective speech in
the family.
Table (viii) B—
| Child's defect | Number of children | Members offamily with defective speech | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | Father | Mother | Brother | Sister | Twin | Father's near relation | Mother's near relation | More remote | ||
| Stammer | 721 | 409 | 94 | 68 | 75 | 31 | 11 | 42 | 71 | 13 |
| Dysphasia | 36 | 28 | - | 1 | 4 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sub-mucous cleft | 4 | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | -__ | - | - |
| Cleft palate | 36 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 3 | 1 |
| Alalia | 47 | 40 | — | 2 | 6 | 2 | — | — | 1 | — |
| Dysarthria | 85 | 77 | 1 | — | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Dyslalia— | ||||||||||
| simple | 493 | 372 | 19 | 16 | 51 | 32 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 4 |
| multiple | 616 | 406 | 33 | 26 | 76 | 43 | 5 | 22 | 32 | 13 |
| general | 269 | 176 | 13 | 19 | 42 | 20 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 1 |
| Dysphonia | 30 | 26 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | — |
| All | 2,337 | 1,567 | 162 | 135 | 260 | 135 | 29 | 76 | 145 | 33 |
Table (viii) G—
| Child's defect | Number of children | Members of family with defective speech | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | Father | Mother | Brother | Sister | Twin | Father's near relation | Mother's near relation | More remote | ||
| Stammer | 159 | 83 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 15 | |
| Dysphasia | 25 | 21 | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - |
| Sub-mucous cleft | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cleft palate | 31 | 24 | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | - | 3 | 1 |
| Alalia | 23 | 20 | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | - | 2 | 1 |
| Dysarthria | 62 | 59 | 1 | — | 2 | — | — | - | 1 | — |
| Dyslalia— | ||||||||||
| simple | 272 | 190 | 5 | 11 | 33 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| multiple | 235 | 146 | 10 | 6 | 35 | 26 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 5 |
| general | 123 | 89 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Dysphonia | 20 | 18 | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | - |
| All | 953 | 653 | 51 | 39 | 92 | 81 | 13 | 27 | 58 | 11 |
Conclusions—As a result of this survey little that is new has come to light but some
impressions have been confirmed, such as the excess of boys over girls particularly in
stammering and that on the whole boys are more severely affected than girls.
159