Articulation in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Question

Answer

Yes, that is why it is so important to treat each child as an individual.  Like many conditions, we tend to focus on the disorders in this population.  So yes we do periodically see children with the sydrome who do not have severe articulation disorders - although it is more the exception to see children who have relatively normal articulation or present with just mild developmental speech sound errors. They should be treated just as you would normally treat a child with developmental articulation errors and therapy.  They tend to have less symptoms of VPD but we have seen some children who have hypernasal speech, weak pressure and nasal emission but have good articulation.  I wish I knew why. I think that would be an extremely interesting question to answer but we don't understand why some children go on to develop the more severe articulation disorders and others do not.  So yes, I think you'll see a full range of possibilities of articulation but the majority tends to show pretty challenging articulation or speech sound disorders.  

Adriane Baylis, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Speech Scientist and Speech-Language Pathologist for the Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus, OH). Dr. Baylis serves as Co-Director of the 22q Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and also provides clinical services to the Cleft Lip and Palate Center.