Performance in the accuracy task in children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech after an integrated intervention of literacy and motor skills.
Karina Carlesso Pagliarin, Marileda Barichello Gubiani, Rafaela Rossini Rosa and 1 others
PMID 35019081WHAT IT FOUND
Three boys with severe speech apraxia improved accuracy and consistency after 15 sessions combining literacy and motor practice.
Gains held at one month. The child with the mildest deficit progressed fastest, while the two with severe deficits made smaller gains.
Key findings
01All three children showed decreased speech sound errors and increased sequencing abilities after therapy, with improvements maintained one month later.
02Progress varied by severity: the child with mild deficits learned 16 sounds in 15 sessions, while the two with severe deficits each learned only 6 sounds.
03Speech inconsistency decreased in all participants, with the most severe child moving from 87% to 62% inconsistency at maintenance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only three participants with no control group, so it is impossible to determine if the improvements were due to the specific intervention or natural development. The intervention period (15 sessions) was short, and the authors note this was likely insufficient for the children with severe CAS. The children had different baseline severities and linguistic profiles, making it difficult to isolate the effect of the treatment across the group. Outcome measures were assessed by the study authors, which introduces potential bias despite inter-rater agreement checks.
Declared interests
The paper does not report specific funding sources or conflicts of interest in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that 15 sessions is sufficient for all children with CAS. The two children with severe deficits made only modest gains compared to the child with mild deficits, and the authors explicitly state that 15 sessions were not enough for severe disorders.