What are some of the main characteristics of DAS?
For a young child with DAS, a limited speech sound repertoire is frequently the main characteristic of his speech. This simply means that the child has very few speech sounds that he can use automatically so he frequently uses a simple syllable (such as da) to stand for almost everything. If the child has gotten to a level where he can use several different consonants and is actually talking, the main characteristic of the DAS is inconsistency. A child with DAS is likely to have inconsistent speech errors and speech capability. For instance, he may be able to say a /p/ sound at the beginning of words as long as the /p/ is followed by an /o/, yet, he may not be able to say it if followed by an /e/. Or, maybe he can only say a /p/ at the beginning of a word if the word also ends in a /p/ as in pop. Another example could be that the child can say a /p/ word just fine by itself, but if there is a /t/ word in front of it, the /p/ becomes a /t/( so two pan is said two tan). Perhaps he can sa
