The Association between Difficulties with Speech Fluency and Language Skills in a National Age Cohort of Children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

The present study (a) addressed difficulties in speech fluency in children with Down syndrome and typically developing children at a similar non-verbal level and (b) examined the association between difficulties with speech fluency and language skills in children with Down syndrome. Data from a cross-sectional parent survey that included questions about children’s difficulties with speech fluency, as well as clinical tests from a national age cohort of 43 six-year-olds with Down syndrome and 57 young typically developing children, were collected. Fisher’s exact test, Student’s t-test, linear regression, and density ellipse scatter plots were used for analysis. There was a significantly higher occurrence of parent-reported difficulties with speech fluency in the children with Down syndrome. Higher language scores were significantly associated with a lower degree of difficulties; this association was strongest for vocabulary and phonological skills. Although difficulties with speech fluency were not reported for all children with Down syndrome, a substantially higher occurrence of such difficulties was reported compared to that for typically developing children. The significant association between difficulties with speech fluency and the level of language functioning suggests that speech fluency and language skills should be taken into consideration when planning treatment for children with Down syndrome.

Phonological Disorders as a Determinant of Speech Intelligibility Among Learners With Down Syndrome in Public Primary Schools, Nairobi County, Kenya

“…Translocation is another cause of DS, which occurs when one chromosome is attached to another during the fragmentation of chromosome 21. In contrast, chromosome 21 non-disjunction causes mosaicism, resulting in an additional chromosome copy in one of the cells (Naess et al, 2021); these factors vary from child to child and affect speech and language development. According to Erin et al (2019), moderate to extreme cognitive disability is also linked to DS.…”

Down Syndrome: Neuropsychological Phenotype across the Lifespan

“…Examining speech fluency, Naess et al [ 2 ] found significantly greater difficulties with fluency in a group of children with DS with an average age of 6 years compared to typically developing children with a similar level of nonverbal cognitive functioning. Poorer performance in speech fluency was associated in the study with lower language skills.…”