IRCS/CCN Brain & Language Series

Malcolm McNeil, Ph.D.

Department of Communication Sciences
University of Pittsburgh

Title: The Nature and Diagnosis of Apraxia of Speech


10/5/03

In this presentation I will very briefly review the origins of the construct of Apraxia of Speech (AOS) and the reasons for the lingering controversy and debate surrounding it. I will attempt to 1) summarize very briefly the current behaviors and criteria for identifying apraxia of speech in adults, 2) review the recent developments in both phonological error and speech motor control/speech motor disorder model building that has most relevance for understanding AOS, 3) propose a set of core behaviors that differentiate apraxia of speech errors from phonemic paraphasic errors, 4) and propose a set of behaviors that are shared by both groups, behaviors that are both coherent with the models and with the data available from the adults with neurological speech production disorders. 5) I will briefly show a couple of digital clips, one with a person that I believe has apraxia of speech in as pure a form as I have seen, and one with a person that I believe does not, but that might be characterized as such by many "authorities."

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to articulate the theoretical context in which the current dominant criteria for diagnosing apraxia of speech were formulated.
2. Participants will be able to articulate how the recent development and validation of two speech production models necessitate the reclassification of some of the kernel behaviors traditionally used to diagnose AOS.
3. Participants will be able to list and justify theoretically the behaviors that are uniquely attributable to persons with phonemic paraphasia, to persons with apraxia of speech, and to those that are shared between the two frequently co-occurring speech production disorders.

Suggested Reading: Copies of these papers are available at IRCS
McNeil, M.R., Robin, D.A. & Schmidt, R.A. Apraxia of speech: Definition, differentiation and treatment. In: M.R. McNeil (Ed.), Clinical Management of Sensorimotor Speech Disorders. New York: Thieme Medical Publishers. 311-344, 1997.

McNeil, M.R., Doyle, P.J. & Wambaugh, J. Apraxia of Speech: A treatable disorder of motor planning & programming, In: S.E. Nadeau, L.J. Gonzales Rothi, & B. Crosson & (Eds.), Aphasia and Language: Theory to Practice, New York: Guilford Publications, pp 221-266, 2000.