Oral dyspraxia in inherited speech and language impairment and acquired dysphasia

Half of the members of the KE family suffer from an inherited verbal dyspra xia. The affected members of the family have a lasting impairment in phonol ogy and syntax. They were given various tests of oral praxis to investigate whether their deficit extends to nonverbal movements. Performance was comp ared to adult patients with acquired nonfluent dysphasia, those with compar able right-hemisphere lesions, and age-matched controls. Affected family me mbers and patients with non-fluent dysphasia were impaired overall at perfo rming oral movements, particularly combinations of movements. It is conclud ed that affected members of the KE family resemble patients with acquired d ysphasia in having difficulties with oral praxis and that speech and langua ge problems of affected family members arise from a lower level disorder. ( C) 2000 Academic Press.