Browsing by Author "Kuoppala, Aura"

Objectives: In apraxic-aphasic disorder, both apraxia of speech (AOS) and aphasia impede speech production. There is little research on severe apraxic-aphasic disorder and its rehabilitation, which complicates the targeting and planning of rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to obtain information about rehabilitation of severe apraxic-aphasic disorder, by observing changes in production of non-propositional speech production during a three-year period. Additionally, the aim was to observe whether the changes in sound errors were similar between the subjects. Method: The data of this study consisted of audio and video recordings in which the participants with severe apraxic-aphasic disorder produced non-propositional speech. The tasks involved counting the numbers 1–10 and reciting the days of the week. The participants had a severe apraxic-aphasic disorder as a result of left hemisphere ischemic stroke. The study examined the changes of sound distortion errors in non-propositional speech tasks. In the data analysis 0–2 points were given for each type of sound errors (sound omissions, sound substitutions, sound distortions and sound additions) for each individual word. High number of sound errors in speech resulted as a high number of error points in the analysis. Results and Conclusions: Five of the seven participants were able to count from 1 to 10 and recite the days of the week at least once with or without help and two participants were not. Of the five subjects who were able to count the numbers 1–10 and recite the days of the week, four were able to produce the non-propositional speech tasks with fewer sound errors during the follow-up. The number of sound errors decreased the most within 15,5 months post-onset. Most of the sound errors were sound omissions and sound substitutions, but high number of sound omission was in part due to assistance from the researcher. The results show that the number of changes in sound errors among severely apraxic-aphasic subjects vary over the course of a three-year period. Changes in the type of sound errors were minimal. The results of the study help to better understand the apraxic-aphasic disorder and its rehabilitation.