Patterns in speech errors among children with auditory processing disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), a neurological hearing impairment, often leads to delays in speech development when diagnosed in childhood. It is unclear whether children with APD make articulation errors due to auditory processing deficits. The purpose of this study was to analyze the articulation error patterns of children diagnosed with APD. We examined speech samples from 26 children diagnosed with APD who participated in a previous research study involving speech perception testing. During this task, each child repeated each of 50 monosyllabic words presented to them in quiet. For each incorrect response, we examined the errors by type of articulation error (substitution, deletion, insertion, or distortion) and the syllable position (onset or coda). Speech perception scores were normal in quiet. However, 22 subjects responded incorrectly for one or more words, with substitution errors (40-50%) being the most prevalent type of errors. Articulation errors in the coda position (81%) were more common...