Speech Production Enhancement Using Augmentative Communication for Kids
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age7-17
SponsorUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison
About this trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if speech supplementation can improve speech intelligibility in children ages 7 to 17 years with cerebral palsy. The main questions it aims to answer are:
* To what extent can speech supplementation improve intelligibility in children with CP compared with habitual speech produced without speech supplementation? * How much intelligibility change is necessary for meaningful improvement when children use speech supplementation strategies?
Participants will:
* complete speech and language assessments * complete a speech pre-test using habitual speech * learn a speech supplementation strategy with training from a speech-language pathologist * complete a speech post-test using the speech supplementation strategy * complete a speech repetition task where specific words are emphasized (emphatic stress) * use the previously learned speech supplementation strategy + emphasis on specific words while producing a set of sentences
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Medical diagnosis of cerebral palsy, or a similar, related condition that affects early motor development and presents as a chronic motor disability
Age between 7 and 17 years
Clinical dysarthria with speech intelligibility between 10-85 percent
Able to produce connected speech in English, with a minimum utterance length of 3 words
Disqualifiers
Failure to meet all inclusion criteria.
Vision impairment that precludes being able to see items on a communication board.
Not suitable for participation due to other reasons at the discretion of the investigators.
Trial design
Design model
Single group
Treatments tested in this trial
AAC Speech supplementation
BehavioralThe speech supplementation intervention involves learning to point to pictures, words, or letters on a communication board while simultaneously producing speech. Children will spend up to 30 minutes learning to use the strategy in one- on-one interaction with a speech therapist and demonstrate mastery by using the strategy successfully on a series of test stimuli.
Treatment groups
100 Participants
are divided into 1 treatment groupGroup A: speech supplementationExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in speech intelligibility scores from pre- to post- intervention as measured by listener transcription of speech samples
Quantify the change in speech intelligibility associated with the use of speech supplementation strategies by having listeners orthographically transcribe speech samples. Intelligibility scores are percentage calculations of the number of words identified correctly by listeners, ranging from 0 to 100 percent. Higher percentages reflect greater intelligibility, or a better understanding of what the speaker said by naive listeners.
Time frame
Before and after intervention within one session in a single day 1Secondary outcomes
1
Perceived change in intelligibility from pre- to post-intervention as measured by listener ratings of the magnitude of difference between pre- and post- intervention speech samples.
Listener ratings of their perception of the magnitude of change in intelligibility between pre- and post-test speaking conditions. Listeners will hear pre- and post-intervention speech samples and will indicate whether they can hear a differences and if so, how large the differences was using a 5-point likert rating scale. Higher values on the scale reflect larger perceived differences.
Time frame
Before and after intervention within one session in a single day 1Other outcomes
1
Exploratory: Change in speech rate from pre- to post- intervention as measured by difference in words per minute produced between pre- and post- intervention speech samples
The duration of each utterance produced, inclusive of pauses, will be measured as the total time between the onset of the first word and the offset of the last word. The number of words in each utterance will be divided by the utterance duration, which will be averaged across all utterances pre- intervention and post- intervention at the child level.
Time frame
Before and after intervention within one session in a single day 12
Exploratory: Change in intelligibility between pre- and post-speaking conditions for children based on severity of pre-test intelligibility impairment.
Children will be divided into severity groups based on intelligibility scores obtained in pre-test condition. Three severity groups will be operationally defined: mild, moderate, and severe. The investigators will complete analyses of differences in treatment effects for children in the different severity groups to determine if the treatment is more effective for some severity groups than others.
Time frame
Before and after intervention within one session in a single day 1Sponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Lead sponsor
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov