Apraxia of Speech in Children and Adolescents: Applications of Neuroscience to Differential Diagnosis and Intervention

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of clinical and neuroscience research that is relevant to distinguishing characteristics of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) from perceptual/phonological disorders (PPD) in children with speech sound disorders. An initial attempt at developing a clinical checklist of as few as seven speech production characteristics, based on a literature review, may be useful for distinguishing CAS from PPD. Data on 11 children seen for intensive speech language intervention in 2008 are presented. The paper also provides longitudinal data on four children seen over two decades that presented with CAS vs. PPD. Clinical implications of a treatment outcome study, the CAS checklist, and longitudinal case studies are discussed.