Speech Therapy for Children With Rare Genetic Conditions and Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age3-16
SponsorMurdoch Childrens Research Institute
About this trial
The goal of this trial is to learn if speech therapy can improve speech accuracy in children with rare genetic conditions and childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This study will look at each child individually.
Participants will complete 4-weeks of motor speech therapy (3 times per week) and will complete speech assessments before, during and after therapy to measure change. The motor speech therapy will be either Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment (ReST) or Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC). Assignment to ReST or DTTC will be based on the participant's age and speech ability. This trial will not compare ReST and DTTC.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Children aged between 3 and 16 years, with a confirmed genetic condition and a diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech; English as the primary language at home; able to participate in speech therapy 3 times per week for 4 weeks
Disqualifiers
Diagnosis of an acquired brain or movement condition likely to affect speech; currently receiving motor speech therapy in the community; diagnosis of a behavioural condition likely to impact engagement (i.e., unable to participate for 45 minutes, unable to focus attention at the speech therapist's face for a few minutes at a time, unable to say any sounds and/or use gesture, unable to try to copy speech therapist; intolerant to touch (if touch cues are needed for DTTC)
Trial design
Design model
Single group
Treatments tested in this trial
Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment
BehavioralReST is a motor speech treatment targeting prosodic accuracy (correct stress patterns) and smooth transitions between sounds. It uses pseudo-words (also known as nonwords) to remove reliance on meaning and focus on pure motor planning and programming demands (i.e., the core deficit in CAS). Participants will complete 60 minutes of motor speech therapy (ReST), 3 times per week for 4 weeks, totalling 12 treatment sessions.
Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing
BehavioralDTTC is a motor speech treatment. It is designed to support children with CAS who require intensive modelling, cueing, and motor practice. The treatment focuses on syllables rather than isolated sounds and progresses through a hierarchy of simultaneous production (i.e., with the clinician), immediate (copying), delayed, and spontaneous productions based on performance. Cueing is highly flexible and dynamic to ensure accurate speech movement patterns before practice intensity increases. Participants will complete 60 minutes of motor speech therapy (DTTC), 3 times per week for 4 weeks, totalling 12 treatment sessions.
Treatment groups
20 Participants
are divided into 1 treatment groupGroup A: Motor speech therapyExperimental treatment 2 interventions
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in accuracy of trained speech targets following speech intervention where accuracy is measured by the percentage of words correct on an individualised probe word list
This will be used to determine changes in accuracy of trained speech targets following speech intervention. Accuracy will be determined using an individualised probe word list (a higher percentage of correct words demonstrates higher accuracy).
Time frame
Baseline (3, 4 or 5 baselines depending on baseline allocation, complete twice weekly pre-treatment), Treatment week 1, Treatment week 2, Treatment week 3, Treatment week 4, 1-week post treatment, 4-weeks post treatment, 8-weeks post treatment.Secondary outcomes
1
Change in accuracy of untrained speech targets following speech intervention where accuracy is measured by the percentage of words correct on an individualised probe word list
This will be used to determine changes in accuracy of untrained speech targets following speech intervention. Accuracy will be determined using an individualised probe word list (a higher percentage of correct words demonstrates higher accuracy).
Time frame
Baseline (3, 4 or 5 baselines depending on baseline allocation, complete twice weekly pre-treatment), Treatment week 1, Treatment week 2, Treatment week 3, Treatment week 4, 1-week post treatment, 4-weeks post treatment, 8-weeks post treatment.2
Change in the percentage of subjective (listener-based) single word speech intelligibility following speech intervention measured using the Preschool/Childhood Speech Intelligibility Measure (PSIM/CSIM)
Percent single word intelligibility calculated from Preschool/Childhood Speech Intelligibility Measure (PSIM/CSIM). Higher % is more accurate.
Time frame
Baseline (3, 4 or 5 baselines depending on baseline allocation, complete twice weekly pre-treatment), Treatment week 1, Treatment week 2, Treatment week 3, Treatment week 4, 1-week post treatment, 4-weeks post treatment, 8-weeks post treatment.3
Change in subjective (listener-based) sentence level (connected speech) intelligibility following speech intervention measured using the Assessment of the Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech (ASSIDS)
The percentage of words correctly understood by an unfamiliar listener will be measured from 22 sentences produced. A higher percentage demonstrates greater accuracy.
Time frame
Baseline (3, 4 or 5 baselines depending on baseline allocation, complete twice weekly pre-treatment), Treatment week 1, Treatment week 2, Treatment week 3, Treatment week 4, 1-week post treatment, 4-weeks post treatment, 8-weeks post treatment.4
Change in objective measures of speech timing following speech intervention measured using acoustic measures obtained from three short speech tasks (2-minute monologue, diadochokinetic rate (i.e., "pa-pa-pa") and sustained vowel.
Acoustic measures of timing (pause length and speech rate) will be obtained from three short speech tasks (2-minute monologue, diadochokinetic rate (DDK) (i.e., "pa-pa-pa") and sustained vowel (i.e., "say ahhh for as long as you can").
Time frame
Baseline (3, 4 or 5 baselines depending on baseline allocation, complete twice weekly pre-treatment), Treatment week 1, Treatment week 2, Treatment week 3, Treatment week 4, 1-week post treatment, 4-weeks post treatment, 8-weeks post treatment.Sponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov