Patterns in the phonological development of children with down syndrome

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that has several well-documented characteristics, not the least of which is delayed speech and language development. The delay in speech and language development emerges in infancy and is present throughout the course of development. The research purposes of the present study were to determine: (1) if the patterns of phonological development in children with Down syndrome were similar to those predicted by their general developmental levels; (2) whether unusual phonological behavior was characteristic of the speech of children with Down syndrome; and (3) whether these children were able to perceive their own production errors. Five children with Down syndrome (one male, four female) between the ages of four years and seven years served as subjects. All subjects were administered assessment battery that included a language test, an oral mechanism screening, an articulation test, a language sample, and a perceptual assessment.

The results indicated that these children with Down syndrome showed greater delays in their phonological development than predicted by their general developmental levels. There was a large amount of individual variation across subjects in both the complexity of and patterns within each phonological system. The phonological patterns of these subjects were captured in a broad manner using phonological processes. In contrast, the independent analysis combined with the child-based relational phoneme collapses provided more focal descriptions. Unusual phonological behaviors primary characteristic of the speech of these children with Down syndrome: Three subjects each produced one unusual form. The results of the Speech Production-Perception Task were generally unreliable across subjects. Only one subject was able to complete any portion of the task.