New speech therapy shows promise for kids with apraxia

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

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.