Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) disrupts a child's ability to send signals to the mouth (e.g., lips, tongue) to speak. In typical development, information about "how a word sounds", "how a word feels" (i.e., the lips in a rounded position when saying "boo"), and the actual movements of the mouth all work together to produce speech. In CAS, it is not known whether one of the pieces (i.e., "how it sounds", "how it feels" or the mouth movement) is damaged or whether the pieces are not working together. This then makes it very challenging to determine what CAS looks like (e.g., speech, language and/or literacy difficulties), or what tools should be used for diagnosis. As such, the purpose of this project is to investigate the role that "how it sounds" and "how it feels" play in speech and reading in children with CAS. Children with and without CAS will complete tasks that test their ability to use "how it sounds", "how it feels" and the movements of the mouth in normal conditions, as well as in disrupted conditions, namely presenting noise to cover up information about "how it sounds" and using an oral numbing mouthwash to cover up information about "how it feels". Together, these studies will move us closer to an understanding of the core deficit in CAS, and help to inform the development of high-quality procedures for identifying children with CAS (i.e., diagnosis) and tools/protocols for evaluating their strengths and weaknesses (i.e., assessment). In addition, it will inform clinicians who treat children with CAS by ensuring they provide the best possible care and treatment. Finally, the results will also inform teachers and specialists who guide reading development.