Connected speech processes in developmental speech impairment: observations from an electropalatographic perspective

This paper uses a combination of perceptual and electropalatographic (EPG) analysis to explore the presence and characteristics of connected speech processes in the speech output of five older children with developmental speech impairments. Each of the children is shown to use some processes typical of normal speech production but also to use a range of more unusual processes at word junctures, with both inter- and intra-speaker variability apparent in the data. The findings suggest that the traditional focus on single word production in the assessment of developmental speech disorders needs to be modified to allow more extensive consideration of speech production in spontaneous speech.