SPTH2907 Clinical Skills and Practice 1B: Motor Speech Disorders

This topic develops the professional skills required to practice as a speech pathologist with a particular focus on providing students with the knowledge and practical skills required to conduct assessment, differential diagnosis, and management of people with motor speech disorders, including fluency disorders, dysarthria and apraxia of speech. During in-class tutorials, students will gain practical skills in conducting perceptual analysis of speech and assessing overt stuttering.

Students will have opportunities to practice making diagnoses and selecting intervention strategies, including appropriate Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) techniques where indicated.

This topic aims to begin to develop students' skills relevant to speech pathology practice. Students must not only have an understanding about the conditions that cause motor speech disorders but also be able to determine the nature and extent of the speech disorder through perceptual and instrumentation-based diagnosis and analysis and determine appropriate intervention.

1. Based on client history and perceptual characteristics, differentiate between the types of Motor Speech Disorders (speech and fluency) across the lifespan, and determine their severity
2. Determine and conduct appropriate assessments to evaluate Motor Speech Disorders (speech/fluency)
3. Describe, measure, analyse and report assessment findings for Motor Speech Disorders (speech/fluency)
4. Justify appropriate treatment approaches and tasks for motor speech disorders based on integration of theory and client goals in accordance with change, different stages of development and disease progression