Use of Syllables by Children with Developmental Apraxia of Speech

In the present study the syllabic organization of utterances from children with DAS is compared to that of normally speaking children by extracting the course of the second formant (F2) across and within syllables. The utterances of children with DAS show more variability within as well as between subjects. There are no syllable boundary effects found in the formant trajectories of either the normally speaking children, nor the children with DAS. However there is a clear effect of shifting syllable boundary in the error percentages and error patterns of the /sx/-sequences produced by children with DAS. These results suggest that children with DAS show deviant coordination of syllabic gestures, and that they experience difficulties in restoring syllable programs.