Syllable Structure Production in children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Children with Down syndrome (DS) present multiple and complex symptoms, with expressive language being the most compromised. Specifically, the greatest difficulties are manifested at the phonetic-phonological level, which is expressed in errors that can be generated by the cognitive deficit characteristic of DS, but also by the multifactorial symptoms they present. Furthermore, Chile has a high prevalence of children with DS, the highest in Latin America. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze the syllable structure of children with DS aged 5.0 to 9.11 years in order to determine how they acquire this suprasegmental feature. To this end, a group of 25 children between the ages of 5.0 and 9.11 years old from the Metropolitan, Valparaíso, and Biobío geographical areas was considered. They were given the Spanish Phonology Test (Bernhardt et al., 2016), which involves eliciting 100 words from each child, in addition to meeting a series of criteria required to be part of the sample. Among the results obtained, it was noted that children with DS present persistent syllable structure processes, mainly omissions and additions, which do not decrease with age. These alterations, related to articulation, perception, and phonological working memory difficulties, affect their intelligibility. Accurate characterization of these errors is essential for designing effective therapeutic interventions and improving their social inclusion.