Frequency Following Responses in childhood apraxia of speech

Abstract

Objectiveto compare the Frequency Following Responses of children with childhood apraxia of speech with typical development children. Methodthis is an observational cross-sectional analytical study approved by Human Research Ethics Committee. Thirty normal hearing children have participated in the study. They were divided into two groups1) study group – composed by 15 children diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech (between the chronological ages of 3 and 11 years, mean age of 5,7 years); and 2) control group: composed by 15 children with typical development, paired by age and gender with study group. Frequency Following Response were recorded using the/da/syllable presentation rate at 10.9 ms. Resultsthere was a significant delay in latencies of waves V, A and C of children with apraxia of speech, suggesting difficulties in the ability to process sounds. ConclusionThe delay on Frequency Following Response's latencies (waves V, A and C) in children with apraxia of speech maybe related to atypical neural coding of speech sounds, suggesting that apraxia of speech must not be purely considered as a motor speech disorder.