ASSIST: Treatment for Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Study Summary

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a pediatric motor speech disorder that impairs the planning of movements needed for intelligible speech. Children with CAS often show little or slow progress in standard speech therapy. This research is a Phase 1 study that tests initial efficacy and optimal parameters of a theoretically based integral stimulation treatment called ASSIST (Apraxia of Speech Systematic Integral Stimulation Treatment). In three small randomized group design studies, children (N=20 per study) receive 16 hours of individual ASSIST. The three studies systematically investigate treatment intensity (2 vs. 4 weeks) and two critical aspects of target selection: complexity (simple vs. complex target) and lexicality (words vs. nonwords). Each study also systematically examines the effect of treatment on functional outcome measures, including parent ratings of intelligibility and communicative participation, and objective intelligibility measures obtained from unfamiliar listeners.

Primary Outcome

Change in Perceptual accuracy of treated items (in percent), judged by 3 blinded listeners and averaged across the 3 listeners to obtain a single percent accuracy score. Listeners score each item as a 2 \[correct\], 1 \[minor error\], or 0 \[major error or multiple errors\]; scores are averaged across listeners and divided by 2 and multiplied by 100 to create a percentage. Change scores are calculated as defined by ClinicalTrials.gov.

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL ASSIST

Study Locations (1)