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Purpose: This investigation was designed to examine the effects of a newly developed treatment for aphasia and acquired apraxia of speech (AOS). Combined Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech Treatment (CAAST) targets language and speech production simultaneously, with treatment techniques derived from Response Elaboration Training (Kearns, 1985) and Sound Production Treatment (Wambaugh, Kalinyak-Fliszar, West, & Doyle, 1998). The purpose of this study was to determine whether CAAST was associated with positive changes in verbal language and speech production with speakers with aphasia and AOS.
Method: Four participants with chronic aphasia and AOS received CAAST applied sequentially to sets of pictures in the context of multiple baseline designs. CAAST entailed elaboration of participant-initiated utterances, with sound production training applied as needed to the elaborated productions. The dependent variables were (a) production of correct information units (CIUs; Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993) in response to experimental picture stimuli, (b) percentage of consonants correct in sentence repetition, and (c) speech intelligibility.
Results and Conclusions: CAAST was associated with increased CIU production in trained and untrained picture sets for all participants. Gains in sound production accuracy and speech intelligibility varied across participants; a modification of CAAST to provide additional speech production treatment may be desirable.
A phasia and acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) are neurogenic disorders of language and motor speech, respectively. AOS seldom occurs as an isolated disorder and is typically accompanied by nonfluent aphasia (Duffy, 2013). The relative contributions of aphasia and AOS to overall communication disruption in persons with both disorders are not well understood; singly, and in combination, these disorders can significantly disrupt communication. Although many persons with aphasia and AOS likely require treatment for both disorders, there has been limited research addressing treatments that have been designed to target both. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the effects of a newly developed behavioral treatment that targets aphasia and AOS simultaneously.
AOS is characterized by slow rate of speech, difficulties in sound production, and disrupted prosody (McNeil, Robin, & Schmidt, 2009). It ranges in severity from a complete inability to speak to minor sound distortions. Stroke is the most common etiology for nonprogressive AOS (Duffy, 2013), and damage to cortical and/or subcortical areas of the language dominant hemisphere has been associated with AOS...