Speech and language development of boys and men with fragile X syndrome is affected by several factors. Some of these factors are particular to fragile X syndrome. These cause the speech and language patterns of persons with fragile X to be different from the speech and language of persons with other causes of developmental disorders, such as Down syndrome and autism. The speech and language of boys with fragile X is often affected by differences in physical structures. Ear infections, oral-motor sensitivity, and structure of the palate may cause problems in both hearing and speech.
Many boys are late in beginning to talk, but most eventually do so.
Some children require the use of augmentative devices to help them communicate when they are not yet speaking. Auditory processing problems are reported by many researchers. Attention, memory, word retrieval, and auditory sequencing often affect both comprehension and production of speech and language. Speech production may be characterized by imprecise articulation, a fast rate of speech, and cluttering, all of which affect intelligibility. Voice characteristics may include a loud volume, with unusual, high pitch, and harshness.