Assessment protocol for patients with acquired apraxia of speech

Abstract

Background

Apraxia of speech can be defined as an articulation disorder that results from impairment of the capacity to order the positioning of speech musculature and the sequencing of muscle movements for volitional production of phonemes and sequences of phonemes.

Objective

The aim of this study was to adapt the Apraxia Battery for Adults II (ABA II) test to suit the Egyptian culture in order to apply this test for assessing Egyptian apraxic patients for proper management of this ailment.

Subjects and methods

This study was conducted on two groups: the first group consisted of 56 adult patients with expressive aphasia and/or dysarthria, who were evaluated with ABA II to detect any apraxic elements. The second group consisted of 100 healthy adults who served as the control group and were evaluated by ABA II to yield cutoff scores. Test reliability was assessed by internal consistency reliability using reliability coefficient α (Cronbach’s α). Test validity was measured on the basis of content validity, concurrent validity, and group differentiation.

Results

Reliability of the ABA II test was proved to be high, on the basis of the high values of coefficient α obtained for all test items (0.746–0.937), denoting an intercorrelation between test items. Validity of the ABA II was proven by three methods: content validity, concurrent validity (correlation matrix between different items of the test was determined and there was a strong correlation between the test items), and group differentiation (comparison of the test results between apraxic patients, nonapraxic patients, and controls was done and statistically significant differences were found between the scores of all test items among these groups.) The test was proven to be sensitive and specific.

Conclusion

The results were highly significant and were capable of discriminating between normal subjects and apraxic patients.