Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Childhood Apraxia
Grigos, Moss & Lu (2015) conducted a study that focused on examining oral articulatory control in childhood apraxia of speech. The purpose of the study was to assess the spatial and temporal elements of articulatory regulation among children suffering from childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), those with speech delay due to phonological or articulation damage, and those with controls with typical development. Childhood apraxia of speech is a multifaceted disorder that is characterized by a major deficiency in the planning and/or programming speech movements. The three major deficiencies associated with this disorder include inconsistent mistakes on repeated work or syllable productions, damaged patterns of coarticulation, and prosodic mistakes. While these varying features reflect a deficit in articulatory control, there are still concerns regarding the specific elements of speech movements that are impaired in childhood apraxia of speech.
Researchers have attempted to examine speech motor control in this complex disorder through using acoustic or kinematic methods. Even though these methods have enhanced understanding of speech motor control in childhood apraxia of speech, there are still gaps in literature on articulatory control in CAS. Grigos, Moss & Lu (2015) sought to address this gap in literature through conducting a quantitative study on this issue. The study was conducted on a group of 33 children participants with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), speech delay (SD), and typical development (TD). The participants were divided into three groups comprising eleven participants each depending on the condition. These participants were aged between 3 years 1 month and 7 years 7 month.
Data from each group of participants was collected through standardized testing of speech, cognition, language, and oral motor skills. In addition, the researchers collected data through conducting a hearing screening. The data collection process involved requiring the children to sit in a chair in a sound-attenuated booth. As part of familiarization, children were introduced to the characters Pop, puppet, and puppypop, which were an elderly male puppet, a dragon puppet, and a lollipop-shaped puppy respectively. A brief training session was carried out to help the children familiarize with the characters, items, and to model correct responses. The investigator provoked token productions while following a protocol that specified cues and sequence to be followed. For data analysis, several techniques were employed including transcription analysis and kinematic analysis of production of tokens and accurate word productions respectively. Statistical analysis was also conducted to evaluate the level with which each outcome variable of interest in the three groups of participants and different word lengths regulate for age effect. An analysis of covariance with repeated measures was also conducted.
Grigos, Moss & Lu (2015) found that children with childhood apraxia of speech and those with speech delay characterized by articulation or phonological mistakes are affected by task demands to varying levels. The impact was evident in the high spatiotemporal indexes with the CAS group in relation to production of longer words. While children with childhood apraxia of speech produced longer words accurately, they used a less consistent motor plan to achieve this. Therefore, the study suggests that speech motor impairments may underlie speech production problems that are attributes of childhood apraxia of speech. These impairments may play a role in the challenges CAS children show in realizing and maintaining accurate speech. However, future research should be conducted to enhance understanding regarding the source of such differences and to examine whether speech motor processes are transformed based on the intervention. The quality of this research article is Level III high since it’s an experimental study whose findings are unlikely to change in future research with regards to confidence levels.
Reference
Grigos, M.I., Moss, A. & Lu, Y. (2015, August). Oral Articulatory Control in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 58, 1103-1118.