Treatment was delivered at The University of Sydney by students trained and supervised by certified speech-language pathologists. In a single site, single blind randomized control trial, 14 children with CAS ages 6-13 years were randomly assigned to 12 sessions over 6 weeks of either of ultrasound biofeedback treatment (with a speech motor chaining practice structure) or ReST.

The purpose of the study was to compare outcomes from these two motor-based treatment approaches for school-age children with CAS. Further research is necessary to determine which principles apply to speech motor (re)learning in impaired populations.īoth Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment (ReST) and ultrasound biofeedback are effective approaches to treating childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Whereas few studies have directly examined these principles in speech motor (re)learning, available evidence suggests that these principles hold promise for treatment of motor speech disorders. Specific attention is paid to how these principles may be incorporated into treatment for motor speech disorders.Įvidence from nonspeech motor learning suggests that various principles may interact with each other and differentially affect diverse aspects of movements. The potential application of these principles to speech motor learning is then discussed by reviewing relevant literature on treatment of speech disorders.

This tutorial critically reviews various principles in the context of nonspeech motor learning by reviewing selected literature from the major journals in motor learning. The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce principles that enhance motor learning for nonspeech motor skills and to examine the extent to which these principles apply in treatment of motor speech disorders. There has been renewed interest on the part of speech-language pathologists to understand how the motor system learns and determine whether principles of motor learning, derived from studies of nonspeech motor skills, apply to treatment of motor speech disorders.

Hula by Lisa Shea