Chapter 6: Motor Speech Disorders in Children

• Sensorimotor: combination of input of sensations and output of motor activity (motor activity reflects what is happening in the sensory systems)
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): childhood motor speech disorder in the absence of muscle weakness that affects planning/programming, sequencing, coordinating, and initiating motor movements of the articulators that interferes with articulation and prosody
• perseverate (perseveration): automatic and involuntary repetition of a behavior, including repetition of a sound, syllable, word, or phrase when speaking
• idiopathic: any disorder, disease, or condition that occurs spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown
• 86% of kids with CAS have a family member w/ a speech sound/language disorder
• Oral Apraxia


  impaired control of articulatory and/or facial muscles without impaired automatic and reflex functions. Individuals with orofacial apraxia have difficulty producing correct movements of the face and/or articulators on request
• Limb Apraxia


  inability to voluntarily and precisely move the arms, hands, and/or fingers when muscle tone & strength are adequate
• Spasticity


  abnormal excessive muscle tone that interferes with normal relaxed movement of the limbs and body
• Dysprosody


  impairment of prosody that affects an individual's intonation, pauses, stress, intensity, and rhythm and melody of speech that is usually attributed to neurological damage
• sign


  an objective finding of a disease, disorder, disability or change of condition or functioning as observed and determined by professional examiner
• Sequential/alternating movement repetitions


  in speech, the ability to execute rapid repetitive or alternating movements of the articulators that is often tested using specific CVCVCV sequences
• 3 features w/ diagnostic validity:

  1. inconsistent error production across repeated productions of syllables or words
  2. lengthened and impaired coarticulatory transitions between sounds & syllables
  3. inappropriate prosody
• KSPT: Kaufman Speech Praxis Test for Children
• Individual Education Plan (IEPs): a plan or program developed to ensure that a child with an identified disability or impairment who is attending an elementary or secondary school receives appropriate specialized instruction and related services
• Screening Test for Developmental Apraxia of Speech (STDAS-2)
• Syllable Repetition Task (SRT)
• Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills (DEMSS)
• Proprioception (Proprioceptive): The ability to sense stimuli within the body regarding position, motion, and equilibrium (e.g. with eyes closed, a person knows the position of their arms). Speech is monitored through auditory feedback & proprioceptive feedback of the articulators
• Coarticulation: the pronunciation of a sound that is affected by the sound preceding and/or following the sound.
• dysarthria


  group of motor speech disorders caused by paresis (weakness), paralysis (complete loss of movement), or incoordination of speech muscles as a result of central and/or peripheral nervous system damage that may affect speech systems. Sounds "mushy" because of distorted consonants and vowels.
• Hypotonicity 


  absence of normal tone or tension of a muscle or group of muscles
• hypertonicity


  excessive tone or tension of a muscle or group of muscles
• paresis


  weakness of a muscle group or limb that can range from mild to severe but it not complete paralysis
• paralysis


  loss of voluntary movement (motor function) that may affect one or more groups of muscles
• cerebral palsy (CP)


  disorder of movement, muscle tone, or posture that is caused by damage that occurs to the immature, developing brain, most often before birth. Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years.
• orthopedic


  branch of health care that is concerned with the prevention and correction of disorders of the musculoskeletal systems of the body
• palatal lift


  prosthetic device that raises soft palate for speech if soft palate is long enough to achieve velopharyngeal closure but does not move well often caused by central or peripheral neurological impairment
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Assistive Technology (AT)


  any approach designed to support, enhance, or supplement the communication of individuals who are not independent verbal communicators in all situations
• Communication Boards (Conversation Boards)


  an apparatus, electronic device, book, or simple board with letters, words, numbers, pictures and/or symbols used by children and adults with very limited functional verbal communication abilities