Electropalatographic therapy for children and young people with Down's syndrome.
Articulation disorders in Down's syndrome (DS) are prevalent and often intractable. Individuals with DS generally prefer visual to auditory methods of learning and may therefore find it beneficial to be given a visual model during speech intervention, such as that provided by electropalatography (EPG). In this study, participants with Down's syndrome, aged 10:1 to 18:9, received 24 individualized therapy sessions using EPG. Simultaneous acoustic and EPG recordings were made pre- and post-intervention during 10 repetitions of a word list containing lingua-palatal consonants. Participants also completed the DEAP phonology sub-test at both time points. Post-treatment, all participants showed qualitative and quantifiable differences in EPG patterns and improvements in DEAP percentage consonants correct. EPG assessment and therapy appears a positive approach for identifying and improving articulatory patterns in children with DS.
Cleland
Joanne
J
Speech Science Research Centre, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK. jcleland@qmu.ac.uk
Timmins
Claire
C
Wood
Sara E
SE
Hardcastle
William J
WJ
Wishart
Jennifer G
JG
D000293:Adolescent; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology / Q000379:methods*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010159:Palate / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014796:Visual Perception