Abstract
Studies investigating the outcomes of behavioral treatments for dysarthria commonly
focus on group-level effects. Individual differences in treatment response have received
less attention. Currently, we have limited understanding of why some speakers respond
favorably to certain intervention programs but others do not. This article advocates
for a more individualized approach to assessing the efficacy of speech pathology intervention.
A conceptual framework is presented, in which the effects of salient speech features
and contextual factors upon treatment outcomes are considered statistically, with
a view to informing treatment planning and development of future clinical studies.
Preliminary evidence is presented in support of this framework—demonstrating that
detailed measurements of the speech signal can predict which individuals respond favorably
to certain treatment cues, even among participants with the same dysarthria etiology
and subtype. Future directions for the study of individualized assessment and treatment
approaches are discussed.
Keywords
Dysarthria - prognosis - individualized treatment - acoustic analysis
