Ultrasound biofeedback treatment for persisting childhood apraxia of speech.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a treatment program that includes ultrasound biofeedback for children with persisting speech sound errors associated with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

METHOD:

Six children ages 9-15 years participated in a multiple baseline experiment for 18 treatment sessions during which treatment focused on producing sequences involving lingual sounds. Children were cued to modify their tongue movements using visual feedback from real-time ultrasound images. Probe data were collected before, during, and after treatment to assess word-level accuracy for treated and untreated sound sequences. As participants reached preestablished performance criteria, new sequences were introduced into treatment.

RESULTS:

All participants met the performance criterion (80% accuracy for 2 consecutive sessions) on at least 2 treated sound sequences. Across the 6 participants, performance criterion was met for 23 of 31 treated sequences in an average of 5 sessions. Some participants showed no improvement in untreated sequences, whereas others showed generalization to untreated sequences that were phonetically similar to the treated sequences. Most gains were maintained 2 months after the end of treatment. The percentage of phonemes correct increased significantly from pretreatment to the 2-month follow-up.

CONCLUSION:

A treatment program including ultrasound biofeedback is a viable option for improving speech sound accuracy in children with persisting speech sound errors associated with CAS.

• Authors: Jonathan L Preston, Nickole Brick, Nicole Landi
• Journal: American journal of speech-language pathology (Am J Speech Lang Pathol) Vol. 22 Issue 4 Pg. 627-43 (Nov 2013) ISSN: 1558-9110 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23813207 (Publication Type: Clinical Trial, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Apraxias (diagnostic imaging, physiopathology, therapy)
• Biofeedback, Psychology (methods)
• Child
• Cues
• Feedback, Sensory (physiology)
• Follow-Up Studies
• Humans
• Male
• Phonetics
• Speech (physiology)
• Speech Disorders (diagnostic imaging, physiopathology, therapy)
• Speech Therapy (methods)
• Tongue (diagnostic imaging, physiology)
• Treatment Outcome
• Ultrasonic Therapy (methods)
• Ultrasonography