Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that impacts the ability to plan the motor movements that are necessary for speech. Children with CAS often experience “errors in speech sound production and prosody,” (ASHA, 2007). A unique program held at St. Rita’s School for the Deaf in Cincinnati, OH educates hearing children with CAS to learn both spoken language as well as manual sign language. The purpose of this study was to determine the communicative functions that manual sign provides for children with CAS and determine which children benefited most from its use. Over the course of a year, 19 children with CAS were given expressive and receptive vocabulary tests showing their individual abilities to understand and produce language through the use of manual sign or vocalization. Videos of testing sessions were examined for instances in which children produced signs; these signs were then coded on the basis of communicative function. Functions included whether the sign was used as a form of redundancy alongside speech, as a form of added meaning alongside speech, or was the sole form of communication used. Results showed 60% of children produced sign as a form of semantic redundancy, 24% of children produced sign in the absence of intelligible vocalization, and 8% of children used sign as a form of additional information. We then analyzed which children most benefited from manual signs by examining the children who produced signs in the absence of intelligible speech (Value-Add signers) versus children who produced signs alongside intelligible speech (Non-Value-Add signers). The Value-Add signers had significantly lower standardized expressive language scores than the Non-Value Add signers, indicating that children with CAS and low expressive language abilities could benefit most from the use of manual signs. Sign facilitated an additional avenue of communication where verbal communication breakdowns occurred. Looking into the future, the question of manual sign leading to better speech remains. This ultimately relates to the importance of speech input in children and the efficacy of sign language.
Authors: Emily Blackburn & Paige Gerenz
Faculty Advisor: Aaron Shield, Speech Pathology & Audiology Department
Graduate Student Advisor: Maggie Goldberg, Speech Pathology & Audiology Department
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