Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019;33(8):679-706.
doi: 10.1080/02699206.2019.1595731. Epub 2019 Apr 15.

Estimates of the prevalence of motor speech disorders in children with idiopathic speech delay

Lawrence D Shriberg  1 , Joan Kwiatkowski  1 , Heather L Mabie  1
Affiliations

Estimates of the prevalence of motor speech disorders in children with idiopathic speech delay

Lawrence D Shriberg et al. Clin Linguist Phon. 2019.

Erratum in

  • Correction.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Clin Linguist Phon. 2019;33(8):815-816. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2019.1616869. Clin Linguist Phon. 2019. PMID: 31221007 No abstract available.

Abstract

The goal of this research was to obtain initial estimates of the prevalence of each of four types of motor speech disorders in children with idiopathic Speech Delay (SD) and to use findings to estimate the population-based prevalence of each disorder. Analyses were completed on audio-recorded conversational speech samples from 415 children recruited for research in idiopathic SD in six USA cities during the past three decades. The speech and motor speech status of each participant was cross-classified using standardized measures in the finalized version of the Speech Disorders Classification System described in the Supplement. Population-based prevalence estimates for the four motor speech disorders were calculated from epidemiological studies of SD conducted in Australia, England, and the USA. A total of 82.2% of the 415 participants with SD met criteria for No Motor Speech Disorder at assessment, 12% met criteria for Speech Motor Delay, 3.4% met criteria for Childhood Dysarthria, 2.4% met criteria for Childhood Apraxia of Speech, and 0% met criteria for concurrent Childhood Dysarthria and Childhood Apraxia of Speech. The estimated population-based prevalence of each of the first three motor speech disorders at 4 to 8 years of age were Speech Motor Delay: 4 children per 1,000; Childhood Dysarthria: 1 child per 1,000; and Childhood Apraxia of Speech: 1 child per 1,000. The latter finding cross-validates a prior prevalence estimate for Childhood Apraxia of Speech of 1-2 children per 1,000. Findings are interpreted to indicate a substantial prevalence of motor speech disorders in children with idiopathic SD. Abbreviations: CAS, childhood apraxia of speech; CD, childhood dysarthria; CND, complex neurodevelopmental disorders; DI, dysarthria index; DSI, dysarthria subtype indices; MSD, motor speech disorder; No MSD, no motor speech disorder; NSA, normal(ized) speech acquisition; PEPPER, programs to examine phonetic and phonologic evaluation records; PM, pause marker; PMI, pause marker index; PSD, persistent speech delay; PSE, persistent speech errors; SD, speech delay; SDCS, speech disorders classification system; SDCSS, speech disorders classification system summary; SE, speech errors; SMD, speech motor delay.

Keywords: Apraxia; dysarthria; speech motor delay; speech sound disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). aM1: First Spectral Moment; F3 - F3: Format 3 - Format 2; PSI: Precision-Stability Index; DS/DSI: Dysarthria Index/Dysarthria Subtype Indices; PM: Pause Maker
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sample output from the Speech Disorders Classification System Summary (SDCSS). The upper SDCSS includes cross-classification findings for a family member with a disruption in FOXP2 (Shriberg et al., 2006). The lower SDCSS includes speech and motor speech cross-classification findings for 45 speakers with Down syndrome (Wilson et al., 2019). a Includes children younger than 9 years old with age appropriate distortions
Figure 3
Figure 3
Speech and motor speech classification prevalence estimates from six samples of children (n = 415) recruited for idiopathic speech delay. a Includes children younger than 9 years old with age appropriate distortions
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Allison K, Cordova C, Iuzzini-Seigel J,& Green J (2017, November). Diagnosing apraxia: A systematic review of recent literature on differential diagnosis of AOS and CAS Los Angeles, CA: Technical Talk at the annual convention of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association.
    1. Allison KM, & Hustad KC (2018). Data-driven classification of dysarthria profiles in children with cerebral palsy. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61, 2837–2853. doi:10.1044/2018_JSLHR-S-17-0356 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed. ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
    1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2007). Childhood apraxia of speech [Technical report] Retrieved from
    1. Archibald LM, & Alloway TP (2008). Comparing language profiles: Children with specific language impairment and developmental coordination disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 43, 165–180. doi:10.1080/13682820701422809 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types