the relationship between apraxia and articulation and phonological disorders, as well as the various interventions available for all three disorders. The objective is to establish whether there is indeed a connection between apraxia, articulation disorders, and phonological disorders.
This is an area that has been explored extensively by psychologists, psychiatrists, speech-language professionals, and speech-language therapists, but which has not been well dissected yet. The reason for this is that it is punctuated by similarities and differences that make it difficult to comb it as well as it should. As it stands however, there is sufficient evidence to show that apraxia (whether acquired or developmental), articulation disorders, and phonological disorders, have little or no connection except in the presentation of symptoms. That is all there is to it. Apart from some similarities in diagnoses and presentation of symptoms, the three disorders are different in their causes and explanations, two areas which are fundamental in telling diseases apart. In order to emphasize the argument being presented here, it is important that all three disorders are discussed in detail. This will bring out the apparent little or no connection between them.
Apraxia is caused by a defect in one’s ability to produce the motor programming necessary for speech movements. Apraxia is not a defect in the relay of messages between the brain and the speech musculature. It is not a movement defect like dysarthria, but a programming/planning problem (Baker & McLeod, 2004). It is characterized by an impairment in the gathering the correct sequence of movements to support speech production or the implementation of the right serial ordering of speech sounds, and is primarily an inability to plan articulatory motion. This disorder develops as a result of lesions in the central nervous system, and is a cortical defect.