Speech Therapy for Children With Rare Genetic Conditions and Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment: ReST 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: DTTC 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.

Study summary

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

Primary outcome measure(s)

• 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 — 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.
  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).

Trial sites (1)

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