Oral Diadochokinetic Production in Children with Typical Speech Development and Speech-Sound Disorders

• Published in: International journal of language & communication disorders Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 1783 - 1798
• Main Author: Ha, Seunghee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Articulation Impairments; Children; Clinical Diagnosis; Korean; Phonemes; Phonology; Speech Impairments; Syllables; speech motor skills; developmental patterns; oral diadochokinesis (DDK); speech sound disorders; perceptual judgment
• ISSN: 1368-2822; 1460-6984
• DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12908

Aims: To investigate the developmental trajectory of the rate and perceptual assessment of oral diadochokinesis (DDK) in typically developing children compared with adults. Also to examine the characteristics of DDK productions in children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and the relationship between DDK production and percentage of consonants correct (PCC). Methods & Procedures: Participants were 316 typically developing children and 90 children with SSD from 3 to 9 years old, as well as 20 adults with normal speech. The mono-, bi- and trisyllabic nonsense strings containing Korean tense consonants and the vowel [a] were used for DDK tasks. The number of iterations per s was measured as the DDK rate for each stimulus. The perceptual assessment of DDK productions was also performed for regularity, accuracy and rate. Outcomes & Results: The DDK rates increased throughout childhood, but the oldest children, 9-year-olds in the current study, did not achieve adult-like rates for all mono- and trisyllabic strings. Children with SSD also did not show significant differences from typically developing children when the DDK productions were analysed using only accurate tokens. The PCC of children with SSD showed higher correlations with regularity, accuracy and rate of perceptual ratings than the timed DDK rate. Conclusions & Implications: This study highlighted the fact that the comprehensive evaluation of DDK productions may provide even more useful information about children's oral motor skills.