Few studies have investigated how individuals with partially intelligible speech choose to communicate, including how, when, and why they might use a speech-generating device (SGD). This study aimed to add to the literature by exploring how this group of individuals use different communication strategies. Qualitative interviews were carried out…

A growing literature highlights the need to develop communication partner-based interventions for individuals with dysarthria. Identifying listener characteristics that facilitate speech understanding is a necessary step in designing communication partner interventions. Musicianship enhances speech understanding in adverse listening conditions…

Purpose: Although dysarthria affects the large majority of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and can substantially complicate everyday communication, previous research has provided an incomplete picture of its clinical features. We aimed to comprehensively describe characteristics of dysarthria in adults with CP and to elucidate the impact of…

Purpose: We examined variability of speech intelligibility scores and how well intelligibility scores predicted group membership among 5-year-old children with speech motor impairment (SMI) secondary to cerebral palsy and an age-matched group of typically developing (TD) children. Method: Speech samples varying in length from 1-4 words were…

Children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP) present with decreased vowel space area and reduced word intelligibility. Although a robust relationship exists between vowel space and word intelligibility, little is known about the intelligibility of vowels in this population. This exploratory study investigated the intelligibility of American…

Essentially, the goal of the P-16 educational process is to teach students to become self-determined adults. Unfortunately, educational systems sometimes fail in addressing these factors and in educating students with various disabilities in the area of self-determination. In this article, the authors present the major findings that emerged from…

The primary objective of the present study was to document tone production and intelligibility deficits in Mandarin-speaking persons with cerebral palsy (CP). Spastic, athetoid, and mixed types of CP were studied, along with a control group, to investigate the possibility of tone production and intelligibility deficits that were differentially…

Twelve nonambulatory adults with severe speech impairments associated with cerebral palsy were studied to examine the effects of aided-message length (single-word vs. phrase-generated messages) and partner feedback on perceptions of communicative competence while using an adult augmentative and alternative communication system. Results indicated…

A study compared intelligibility and speech rate differences following speaker implementation of 3 strategies (topic, alphabet, and combined topic and alphabet supplementation) and a habitual speech control condition for 5 speakers with severe dysarthria. Combined cues and alphabet cues yielded significantly higher intelligibility scores and…

Purpose: This study compared the influence of speaker-implemented iconic hand gestures and alphabet cues on speech intelligibility scores and strategy helpfulness ratings for 3 adults with cerebral palsy and dysarthria who differed from one another in their overall motor abilities. Method: A total of 144 listeners (48 per speaker) orthographically…

These two journal issues discuss topics relating to the physical and health disabilities of children and adults. The first issue contains the following articles: (1) "Position Statement on Specialized Health Care Procedures," by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Physical and Health Disabilities that calls for all…