AOS: A neurological speech disorder affecting the planning and programming of speech movements, resulting in errors in articulation and prosody.

• A. Dysarthria
• B. Apraxia of Speech
• C. Aphasia
• D. Stuttering

Answer: (B)

Planning and programming the precise sequence of movements needed to produce speech is the key issue here. Apraxia of Speech is a neurologic speech disorder that disrupts the planning and programming of those movements, so a person often knows what they want to say but has trouble articulating it. This leads to inconsistent articulation errors, groping for sounds, slow or labored speech, and altered prosody, even though the underlying language and breath support can be normal. The problem sits in the motor planning stage, not in the muscles themselves or in language processing.

Dysarthria involves the muscles of speech themselves—weakness, slowness, or poor coordination—so articulation is slurred or imprecise, but the planning stage is preserved. Aphasia is a language disorder affecting understanding and formulation of language, not specifically the planning of speech movements. Stuttering is primarily a fluency issue, with repetitions or blocks, not a motor planning impairment for producing the planned sequence of articulatory movements.