Abstract:

The problems presented in the article and on the poster are the object of the author’s interest. They are investigated as part of the research project ‘Segmental and Suprasegmental Specificity of the Phonic Sequence and Intelligibility of Utterances in Dysarthria Case in Infantile Cerebral Palsy’ (project manager: Dr Urszula Mirecka; 38th Ministry of Science and Higher Education competition of research projects) now underway. Analyses cover utterances of 6-15-year-old children diagnosed with different clinical forms of infantile cerebral palsy (ICP). The studied group consists of 38 patients in two subgroups: 1. children with dysarthria, 2. children with dysarthria co-occurring with underdeveloped speech caused by mental retardation. The main diagnostic instrument is the author’s own diagnostic technique Skala dyzartrii. Wersja dla dzieci [The Dysarthria Profile. Children’s Version]. The intelligibility of utterances of the children studied is assessed by the author and by four experimental groups each with 33 logopedic and non-logopedic students on the basis of listening to and visual observation of digital film recordings. The intelligibility of utterances will be compared with identified disorders of the phonic sequence (their types and frequency), one of the objectives of the study being to establish factors that reduce the intelligibility of utterances in dysarthric patients with ICP. The article discusses problems concerning the diagnosis of dysarthric disorders occurring in cases of infantile cerebral palsy. Dysfunctions significant for logopedic diagnosis such as respiratory dysfunctions (e.g. improper breathing, shortened expiratory phase, reduced control of the force of expired air), phonatory disorders (e.g. reduced control of the pitch and intensity of voice) articulatory and resonance dysfunctions (e.g. sound deformations, simplification of consonant groups, hypernasality), prosodic disturbances (e.g. respiratory-phonatory-articulatory discoordination, disordered speaking rate) were discussed in the context of assessing the degree of intelligibility of ICP patients and the purposes of therapeutic procedure.