| Abstract: |
This study compared the effects of alphabet supplementation and iconic hand gestures for a speaker with spastic dysarthria as the result of cerebral palsy. Stimulus sentences produced by the speaker contained low and high predictive content. A total of 24 inexperienced listeners orthographically transcribed sentences produced using habitual speech, alphabet supplementation, and iconic hand gestures following audio-video presentation. Results showed that both strategies, alphabet supplementation and iconic hand gestures, significantly improved intelligibility of severely dysarthric speech relative to habitual speech, but that the two strategies did not differ from one another, In addition, sentences that were high predictive resulted in better intelligibility scores than sentences that were low predictive. The magnitude of improvement associated with both alphabet supplementation and iconic hand gestures suggests that both are viable intervention strategies for the present speaker. |
