ABSTRACT
This article discusses written language development in children with childhood apraxia
of speech (CAS). Children with CAS are at risk for persistent reading and spelling
disorder in addition to their spoken communication difficulties. The article highlights
four factors that increase the risk of written language disorder in this population:
(1) the nature of the speech disorder, (2) the presence of phonological awareness
difficulties, (3) genetic risk factors, and (4) the negative impact of early reading
difficulty on later written language development. The article suggests that traditional
approaches used to target articulation in CAS may do little to develop skills that
are critical to early literacy acquisition and stresses the importance of integrating
speech, phonological awareness, and literacy goals for this population. Data presented
from a pilot intervention study with three children with CAS aged 6 and 7 years highlight
the potential benefit of an integrated phonological awareness approach to improve
simultaneously speech, phonological awareness, and decoding ability. The need for
further empirical evaluation of treatment approaches designed to improve the spoken
and written language outcomes of children with CAS is emphasized.
KEYWORDS
Written language - apraxia - literacy - phonological awareness
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Prof. Gail Gillon
Department of Communication Disorders, College of Science, University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
Email: gail.gillon@canterbury.ac.nz
