KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AMONG SCHOOL TEACHERS ABOUT CORRELATION OF ORAL HABITS AND FUNCTIONAL DYSLALIA IN CHILDREN

Dr. Ann Polachirakal Tharakan*, Dr. Madhura Pawar and Dr. Noreen Qazi

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The World Health Organization’s Global School Health Initiative encourages “Health-Promoting Schools”. Communicating with proper speech and articulation is very important in children. School teachers correct speech inaccuracies and identify speech difficulties, termed functional dyslalia in school going children. Oral Habits can compromise the harmony of the stomatognathic system and become deleterious. It is important for teachers to recognize and refer speech defects due to oral habits in the initial years. Aim: To Assess the Knowledge, attitude and practice among school teachers about effect of oral habits on speech abnormalities in children. Settings and design: Descriptive study. Methods: A validated structured close ended KAP questionnaire was provided to 30 school-teachers in PCMC area, Pune. The results were statistically analysed and percentage was calculated. Results: It was found that 100% of the school-teachers knew children can have oral habits and that they knew that due to these oral habits children can have speech problems. Although 57% of the schoolteachers have taught a child in their class with speech pronunciation problems only 27% had requested parents to see the dentist or speech therapist. Conclusion: Early recognition, of oral habits is crucial for precise speech articulation as well as for skeletal and social development. School teachers need to refer the students with speech abnormalities (dyslalia) to the speech therapist and the dentist to initiate the necessary early interventional measures.

Keywords: Oral habit, dyslalia, school teachers, speech defect.