Assessing Coarticulation and Determining Goals

A disruption in coarticulatory movements is a common characteristic of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) (ASHA, 2007) that can significantly impact an individual’s intelligibility, especially in connected speech, making it a vital part of apraxia therapy. However, little information is generally available to clinicians regarding assessing coarticulation and how to address it in treatment. In this advanced course, common coarticulatory patterns in standard American English will be briefly reviewed. Guidelines for analyzing a child’s spontaneous speech for the use of coarticulatory patterns will be discussed. Possible stimuli to elicit various coarticulatory patterns will be provided. A hierarchy based on motor complexity for coarticulatory patterns will be presented and goals to address coarticulation will be discussed.

Following this course, participants will be able to:

1.  Name two common coarticulatory patterns that occur between vowels in standard American English.
2.  Identify two common coarticulatory patterns that occur between consonants in standard American English.
3.  Name two prosodic errors that can be caused by disruptions in coarticulatory movement.

This course meets the requirement for Professional Development hours towards your ASHA renewal since it is approved by TSHA! You can count these hours towards ASHA renewal when you submit your Compliance Form.