title: "The caterpillar": a novel reading passage for assessment of motor speech disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A review of the salient characteristics of motor speech disorders and common assessment protocols revealed the need for a novel reading passage tailored specifically to differentiate between and among the dysarthrias (DYSs) and apraxia of speech (AOS).
  
  
  METHODS
  "The Caterpillar" passage was designed to provide a contemporary, easily read, contextual speech sample with specific tasks (e.g., prosodic contrasts, words of increasing length and complexity) targeted to inform the assessment of motor speech disorders. Twenty-two adults, 15 with DYS or AOS and 7 healthy controls (HC), were recorded reading "The Caterpillar" passage to demonstrate its utility in examining motor speech performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis of performance across a subset of segmental and prosodic variables illustrated that "The Caterpillar" passage showed promise for extracting individual profiles of impairment that could augment current assessment protocols and inform treatment planning in motor speech disorders.
authors: Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA. r.patel@neu.edu
authors: Rupal
authors: R
authors: Patel
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Connaghan
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Franco
authors: Erika
authors: E
authors: Edsall
authors: Dory
authors: D
authors: Forgit
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Olsen
authors: Lianna
authors: L
authors: Ramage
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Tyler
authors: Scott
authors: S
authors: Russell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001072:Apraxias / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004401:Dysarthria / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests / Q000379:methods*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D013637:Tape Recording