Assessment Of Selected Phonological Issues In The Speech Of Downs Syndrome Individuals

Regardless of the language, a ll children can acquire essentia l componentsrnof their respective language by about the age of three or four. However, notrna ll children can do this. Particularly, among the menta lly challengedrnpeople, Down's syndrome individuals cannot achieve this level. This is,rnhowever, d ue to some physiological, n eurological as well as psychosocialrnproblems.rnAmharic mother-tongue Down's syndrome individuals, similar to manyrnother Down's syndrome individuals speaking other la n guages, are knownrnfor their language problems. Although there are important individualrndifferences, it seems possible to specify some language defects holding truernfor these specific types of people. These kinds of individuals are highlyrnidentified with poor a rticulation as well as stuttering.rnIt is obvious that good production of speech depends upon the speechrnorgans being the appropria te size and working effectively. Nevertheless, inrnaddition to some problems in n erve coordination, Amha ric s peaking Down'srnsyndrome individuals do not seem to have 'normal' ora l cavity that wouldrnresult in normal speech. Hence, due to some physiological anomalies in thernoral cavity, they commit a number of phonological errors. Pa rticularly, theyrnhave great difficulties in articulating some palatal and ej ective sounds.

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