Consonant and syllable complexity of toddlers with Down syndrome and mixed-aetiology developmental delays

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Issue Date
2014-12-01Author
Sokol, Shari Baron
Fey, Marc E.
Publisher
Informa Healthcare
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
Copyright Informa Healthcare
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Show full item recordAbstract
This study examines whether speech sound production of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) is on par with or more severely impaired than that of mental age (MA) peers with developmental delay due to aetiologies other than Down syndrome at two points within an 18-month period near the onset of spoken word production. The utterances of 26 children with DS, aged 24–33 months, with a mean MA of 14.3 months, originally studied by Fey et al. (2006) and Warren et al. (2008) were compared to those of a group of 22 children with similar intellectual and communication delay but no DS (NDS). Phonological measures included the size of the consonant inventory, syllable shape complexity, and number of communication acts with canonical vocalizations. At Time 1, the DS group performed as well as or better than the NDS group on these measures of speech production. At Time 2, 18 months later, the DS group was behind the NDS group on the same measures. Results extended the pattern of more severe impairment in children with DS than NDS peers commonly noted in expressive language to measures of phonological development.
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Citation
Sokol, Shari B., and Marc E. Fey. "Consonant and Syllable Complexity of Toddlers with Down Syndrome and Mixed-aetiology Developmental Delays." International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 15.6 (2013): 575-85.
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