title: Electropalatographic therapy for children and young people with Down's syndrome.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Speech Science Research Centre, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK. jcleland@qmu.ac.uk
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Timmins
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Hardcastle
authors.forename: Jennifer G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Wishart
mesh_terms: 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