A comparative study of the relationship between dysarthria and verbal dyspraxia in adults and children

This paper discusses the relationship between the dysarthrias and verbal dyspraxia in adults and children, and examines these conditions with reference to current theories and a model. The empirical basis for the study described here was the examination in depth of the speech of six subjects, each of whom presented with neurological disorders of different origins: two adults, chosen to exemplify the acquired conditions of dysarthria and dyspraxia, and four children. The speech analyses used profiling techniques of segmental phonological and prosodic assessment, and electropalatographic (EPG) examination, and the profiles thus obtained were compared between subjects and across client groups. The hypothesis was that in-depth analyses would provide distinguishing characteristics between the two neurological conditions, such that the children with suspected developmental verbal dyspraxia would demonstrate differences from those with developmental dysarthria, and clear similarities to the dyspraxic adult. The ...