Exploring the Relationship Between Ease of Articulation and Treatment for AOS

Shuster, Linda and Cottrill, Claire (2013) Exploring the Relationship Between Ease of Articulation and Treatment for AOS. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

Investigators continue to search for effective treatments for acquired apraxia of speech (AOS). One difficulty for investigators interested in developing treatment approaches is that the mechanisms underlying AOS are still not completely understood (e.g., Ziegler, 2002). Locke (1972) performed a study to examine the ease of articulation of English speech phonemes by having adults rate phonemes according to how easy or difficult they were to produce. He found that rated ease of articulation had a strong correlation with the order of phoneme acquisition in children. Phonemes that adults perceived to be easier to produce were acquired earlier by children, and those they perceived to be more difficult to produce were acquired later by children. Moreover, he found that children tended to substitute phonemes that adults rated as easier for those they rated as more difficult. AOS is considered to be a motor speech disorder, so perhaps ease of articulation may play a role in the nature of the problems individuals with AOS demonstrate. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the phonemes that are selected for treatment or are reported to be in error in persons with AOS and the phonemes that are rated as more difficult to produce by normal speakers.

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