Efficacy of treatment intensity in German-speaking children with childhood apraxia of speech
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Motor learning principles guide treatment of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Previous studies
found children to benefit from higher-intensity conditions; however, they did not control for the
total amount of therapy time. The aims of the article are to examine the effects of high versus
low treatment frequency in intervention for CAS in German-speaking children. An alternating
single-subject design with multiple baselines was applied to compare frequent, short sessions
with fewer, longer sessions in terms of speech production accuracy in four children with CAS
while keeping the total therapy time constant. We administered a version of integral stimulation
treatment. Despite inter-individual differences, changes under both treatment conditions showed
similar positive trajectories for all four children. Untreated control targets also improved across
participants and conditions. Maintenance and generalization to untreated targets were observed
two weeks and three months post treatment, independent of treatment intensity. Our results
show no significant advantage of more intensive treatment when the total therapy time is held
constant. This study contributes to the evidence base for the use of integral stimulation in treating
children with CAS, and in particular those who speak languages other than English.