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Speech disorder in children with Down's syndrome.
1Department of Speech, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research : JIDR
|August 8, 2001
Summary
Children with Down's syndrome (DS) and those with inconsistent phonological disorders produce similar numbers of inconsistent words. However, children with DS make fewer word changes during repeated productions, suggesting different underlying speech deficits.
Area of Science:
- Speech-language pathology
- Developmental psychology
- Genetics
Background:
- Children with Down's syndrome (DS) often exhibit unintelligible speech, a characteristic that distinguishes them from many other children with intellectual disabilities.
- The precise nature of speech disorders in children with DS remains a subject of debate within the scientific community.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the speech error patterns of children with DS to those of intellectually average children with inconsistent phonological disorder.
- To investigate potential differences in the underlying deficits contributing to inconsistent word pronunciation in these two groups.
Main Methods:
- Matched groups of children with DS and children with inconsistent phonological disorder based on consonant error percentages.
- Utilized a picture-naming task to assess repeated productions of words.
- Analyzed the number of inconsistently produced words and the types of errors made across repeated trials.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found between the groups in the total number of words produced inconsistently during repeated productions.
- Children with inconsistent phonological disorder made more changes to words on repeated productions compared to children with DS.
- This suggests qualitative differences in the speech production errors between the two groups.
Conclusions:
- The underlying deficits contributing to inconsistent word pronunciation appear to differ between children with DS and children with inconsistent phonological disorder.
- Speech intervention strategies for children with DS should be tailored to address their specific underlying deficits, rather than assuming a universal pattern of inconsistency.