Speech perception in child apraxia of speech
An exploratory investigation conducted by Hitchcock et al. focused on gathering data regarding perceptual performance, including auditory discrimination and phonological awareness skills, concerning consonant-vowel syllable contrasts. The study encompassed children diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), speech sound disorder (SSD), as well as those with typical development. This research holds significance because the ability to discern between word and non-word syllable shapes is often crucial in providing effective treatment cues for children diagnosed with CAS.
The findings of this study show the importance of addressing perceptual deficits observed in many children with CAS, akin to the patterns identified in the SSD literature. Consequently, integrating a perceptual dimension into treatment strategies for children with CAS could potentially mitigate speech perception deficits. This can be achieved through various approaches:
Incorporating activities and exercises in treatment plans aimed at enhancing speech perception skills.
Focusing therapy sessions on specific speech perception skills, such as discriminating between consonant-vowel syllable contrasts.
Regularly assessing and monitoring speech perception abilities throughout the course of treatment.
Providing auditory feedback during speech production tasks to aid children with CAS in developing accurate perception of their own speech sounds.
In essence, the study suggests that the inclusion of perceptual elements in interventions for CAS could offer valuable avenues for addressing speech perception deficits in affected children.
What does this mean clinically? Well, you might want to get a microphone/headset to use for auditory feedback tasks, and it would be a good idea to spend a few minutes working on discrimination and perception during speech therapy -it carries a greater impact than we might think.
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