Pausing and Sentence Stress in Children with Dysarthria Due to Cerebral Palsy

Introduction: Children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP) can experience problems manipulating intensity, fundamental frequency, and duration to signal sentence stress in an utterance. Pauses have been identified as a potential additional cue for stress-marking, which could compensate for this deficit. Objective: This study aimed to determine whether children use pauses to signal stress placement, and whether this differs between typically developing children and those with CP. Methods: Six children with CP and 8 typically developing children produced utterances with stresses on target words in 2 different positions. Pauses before and after the stressed target words were analyzed in terms of number, location, and duration. Results: Both groups inserted pauses into their utterances. However, neither group used pause location or duration in a systematic manner to signal the position of the words stressed. Conclusions: The results suggest that pausing was not used strategically by either group to signal sentence stress. Further research is necessary to explore the value of pausing as a cue to stress-marking in general and as a potential compensatory strategy for speakers with dysarthria.