The relationship of speech-language disorders by gender in the primary school of the SUVAG Polyclinic to general population data for period from 2013 to 2016 in the Republic of Croatia

The aim of this paper is to compare the proportion of girls and boys, pupils of the Primary school of the SUVAG Polyclinic that are involved in complex rehabilitation, with general statistical data, i.e. number of pupils in the Republic of Croatia and number of children with speech-language disorders. It was observed whether there are any notable differences in gender distribution. General statistical data pertaining to the entire population of primary school students from the school year 2010/2011 to 2015/2016 were provided in the introductory section. Then, the data pertaining to children with developmental disabilities according to the Croatian Register of Persons with Disabilities with data from the SUVAG Polyclinic were compared. It is clear from the compared data that the ratio of boys and girls in complex rehabilitation of the school age children is larger than the one at the level of the Republic of Croatia. The trend is clear through 10-years period analyzed. Since Primary school of the SUVAG Polyclinic and the complex rehabilitation of speech and listening is attended by pupils with higher degree of speech-language disorders, the possible interpretation of the obtained results is that with degree of speech-language difficulty number of boys compared to number of girls increases. The results obtained can be used to create preventive programs and educations for educators, teachers and expert associates.