Coarticulation in children with Down’s syndrome: an electropalatographic analysis

Speech production patterns of young people with Down's syndrome have been found to be variable and inconsistent, with preliminary studies finding higher than normal levels of variability and inconsistency in the articulation of stops and fricatives. Previous studies on this population have identified similar characteristics to that found in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. One of the manifestations of Childhood Apraxia of Speech is incoordination of the speech articulators which can lead to abnormal patterns of coarticulation. To date there are no studies that have analysed the use of coarticulation in individuals with Down's syndrome but we would expect to find similar patterns to individuals with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Multiple repetitions of the phrases 'a clock' and 'a red car' were analysed using Electropalatography to assess temporal and spatial aspects of coarticulation. Measures of both temporal and spatial variability were taken from speakers with Down's syndrome and a group of typically developing children. Results show that both groups of children show intra-speaker variability for the /kl/ and /d#k/ coarticulation contexts and a large difference is apparent between children and adults in both sequences.