Motor-based intervention for childhood apraxia of speech

A Randomized Control Trial of Motor-based Intervention for Childhood Apraxia of Speech

This study is testing a new speech therapy method for young children with childhood apraxia of speech to see if it helps them speak more clearly and improve their speech skills.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 72 (estimated)
• Ages: 29 Months to 95 Months
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: New York University (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (New York, New York)
• Trial ID: NCT04642053 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This research examines the effectiveness of a non-traditional motor-based approach called Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cuing (DTTC) for treating childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) in children aged 2.5 to 7.11 years. The study involves 72 participants who will be divided into Immediate Treatment and Delayed Treatment groups, with data collected at various phases including Pre-Treatment, Treatment, and Maintenance. The primary aim is to assess improvements in speech production and intelligibility, while the secondary aim focuses on refining speech motor control through kinematic and acoustic measures. The total duration of the study is 28 weeks.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Ideal candidates are children aged 2.5 to 7.11 years diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech exhibiting specific speech characteristics.

Not a fit: Patients who do not have a diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech or who do not meet the specific diagnostic criteria will not benefit from this study.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this intervention could significantly improve speech production and intelligibility in children with childhood apraxia of speech.

How similar studies have performed: While traditional approaches have shown limited effectiveness, this novel motor-based intervention has not been extensively tested in prior studies.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Diagnostic classification for CAS will be determined according to the presence of the three core features identified in the ASHA position statement on CAS: 1) inconsistent consonant and vowel errors over productions of repeated trials; 2) difficulties forming accurate movement between sounds and syllables; and 3) prosodic errors (ASHA, 2007). These three characteristics must be present in more than one speaking context (i.e. single words, connected speech, sequencing tasks). In addition to the three core features, children with CAS must demonstrate at least four of the following characteristics: vowel errors, timing errors, phoneme distortions, articulatory groping, impaired volitional oral movement, reduced phonetic inventory and poorer expressive than receptive language skills, which is consistent with the Strand 10-point checklist (Shriberg et al., 2012). We will identify the presence of these factors from the Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills (DEMSS, Strand et al., 2013), Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children (VMPAC, Hayden \& Square, 1999), Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation (GFTA-3, Goldman \& Fristoe, 2016), and a connected speech sample. We have used these stringent criteria for diagnosing CAS in our past research (Please see the Diagnostic Framework and Criteria for CAS in Grigos and Case (2017)). The diagnosis will be made independently by two speech language pathologists (one being the PI) with expertise in assessing and treating children with CAS.
2. Age between 2.5 and 7.11 years of age.
3. Normal structure of the oral-peripheral mechanism.
4. Participants must pass a hearing screening conducted at 20 dB SPL at 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz.
5. No prior DTTC treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Positive history of neurological disorder (e.g. cerebral palsy), developmental disorder (e.g. autism spectrum disorder) or genetic disorder (e.g. Down syndrome).
2. Characteristics of dysarthria, even if the child meets criteria for CAS.
3. Fluency disorder, even if the child meets criteria for CAS.
4. Conductive or sensorineural hearing loss, even if the child meets criteria for CAS.
5. History of DTTC treatment.

Where this trial is running

New York, New York

• New York University, Department of Communicative Sciences & Disordesr — New York, New York, United States (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Maria I Grigos, PhD — New York University
• Study coordinator: Maria I Grigos, PhD

Conditions Childhood Apraxia of Speech; Pediatric motor speech disorder; Speech motor control