Evidence of Motor Programming Deficits in Children Diagnosed With DAS

Abstract

In this study the hypothesis of motor programming involvement in developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) was investigated by studying articulatory compensation. Five children with DAS and 5 normally speaking children (age 5;0 [years;months] to 6;10), and 6 adult women produced utterances in a normal speaking condition and in a bite-block condition in which the mandible was kept in a fixed position. Throughout the utterances, the course of the second formant was used to determine articulatory compensation and the effect of the bite block on anticipatory coarticulation. Results showed that the bite-block condition in normally speaking children, like in adult women, did not affect the extent of anticipatory coarticulation. In the speech of children with DAS, the bite block had large effects on coarticulatory patterns and on vowel quality, which, contrary to expectations, had improved. These results are interpreted as a clear demonstration of deficient motor programming in DAS.

Desvio fonológico e alterações práxicas orofaciais e do sistema estomatognático

“…performance of the motor act are relatively intact and without significant intellectual deficit 2,15,16 .…”

“…Studies 15,17,18 observe that children with praxis alterations present difficulties to perform specific and voluntary motor actions of the speech sounds, and it is related to the phono-articulatory production.…”

“…Among the total of items which compose it, there are 12 movements of verbal praxis, 12 orofacial praxis without sound production, six sequences of For this reason, to evaluate the SS is necessary to a proper diagnosis of speech disorders 6 . When there is impairment of a subject's gestural activity, and the systems which are responsible for the performance of the motor act are relatively pristine and without significant intellectual deficit, it is a process called dyspraxia 2,[14][15][16] . This situation is defined as a difficulty to produce specific and voluntary motor actions of the speech sounds related to the phono-articulatory production 6,17,18 .…”

Desempenho de crianças com distúrbios dos sons da fala no instrumento "Avaliação dinâmica das habilidades motoras da fala"

“…The variables overall articulatory accuracy and consistency should be observed in children with speech sound disorders, because they may be one of the diagnostic markers for CAS (2,(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)16) . In the present research, this finding was confirmed because statistical significance was observed when these variables were compared between the different groups.…”

“…In this sense, segmental and suprasegmental characteristics may contribute to the composition of a diagnosis (8) . The following segmental characteristics are worth highlighting: articulatory groping, especially at the beginning of speech production; substitution errors; inconsistent speech exchanges; larger number of errors on vowels (8)(9)(10)(11)(12) . Regarding the suprasegmental characteristics, the following should be emphasized: inadequate prosody, mainly in inconsistent utterance of the accent (stressed syllable), and perception of nasopharyngeal resonance (8) .…”