An analysis of the vowel misarticulations of five children with developmental apraxia of speech

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Abstract
Although vowel misarticulations have frequently been observed in cases of developmental apraxia of speech (DAS), systematic descriptions of such errors have not been provided. In the present study the vowel productions of five children (ranging in age from 8;2 to 10;9) diagnosed with DAS were described in detail. All five children had difficulty with rhotic vowels and diphthongs. The proportion correct of non-rhotic vowels varied across subjects, ranging from 0.56 to 0.96. Each child's productions were analysed for inventory constraints, segmental errors, and error patterns. Although each child exhibited individual patterns of errors, several common trends were also observed. Most subjects had difficulty with tense/lax vowel contrasts (e.g. [i] for /i/ or [i] for /i/). Other common patterns included diphthong reduction (e.g. [a] for /ai/) and backing (e.g. [a] or [a] for /æ/). Follow-up analyses of three subjects 1 year later revealed changes in the vowel systems of two children, but no changes for the third child.

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