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

Kari-Anne B Næss,Hilde Hofslundsengen,J Scott Yaruss,Egil Nygaard

doi:10.3390/brainsci11060704

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.

Highlights

A child’s level of speech fluency can affect effective communication [1]
We studied a national age cohort of children with Down syndrome to ask the following research questions: (1) What is the occurrence of difficulties with speech fluency in a national age cohort of children with Down syndrome compared to that of a cohort of typically developing children at the same non-verbal mental age level?
Based on the uncertainties about the categorization of speech disfluency in individuals with Down syndrome in previous research, whether the presence of disfluencies might reflect a fluency disorder such as stuttering [27,42], we focused on difficulties with speech fluency in general rather than the presumed diagnosis of a particular type of fluency disorder

Summary

Introduction

A child’s level of speech fluency can affect effective communication [1]. Disfluent speech is common in young children during periods when speech, language, and emotional functioning progress rapidly [2,3]. Consistent weaknesses, compared to typically developing children of similar non-verbal mental age level, are reported in the areas of expressive vocabulary, receptive and expressive grammar (syntax and morphology; [22,23,24]), and phonological awareness ([25,26]; see a systematic review and meta-analysis by Næss et al [11]). There is an initial gap between expressive and receptive language domains and between vocabulary and other core language skills, all of these areas develop more slowly over time in children with Down syndrome than in younger typically developing peers with similar non-verbal mental age levels, and the gap between the groups increases over time [26,30,31]

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