The Role of Connected Speech in Distinguishing Types of Apraxia of Speech Following Brain Damage

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a common condition resulting from brain damage causing impairments to speech planning and programming that is distinct from aphasia and dysarthria.Following a stroke, AOS is most often seen as a part of nonfluent Broca's aphasia.Recovery and dissolution of speech in stroke induced apraxia of speech (sAOS) and progressive AOS (pAOS) appear on a symptomatic level to be reversals of each other, but the existing evidence shows that sAOS is distinct from pAOS.This suggests different causes that have relevance for management of pAOS.In this article, we examine the similarities and differences between sAOS and pAOS and conclude that while the two conditions present similarly, certain features differ significantly, which may suggest different mechanisms underlying their manifestation.The role of connected speech as opposed to single word utterances is noted.