Speech-music therapy for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and intellectual disability: A multiple single-subject design study.

Abstract

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a rare condition in the general population, but it is more prevalent in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. 75% of children with CAS also have intellectual disability (ID), but these children are rarely included in treatment studies. In this study, the effectiveness of Speech-Music Therapy for Aphasia and Apraxia (SMTA) is evaluated in the treatment of children with CAS+ID. SMTA was evaluated in a multiple-single subject design study, comparing 10 weeks of treatment with two months of no treatment in four participants. They varied in the severity of ID. Intelligibility in daily communication improved for all children. For three children there was no generalisation of gains in trained items to other speech tasks. Severity of ID may play a role in this. Adjustments in treatment duration and outcome measures are necessary to adequately assess the effectiveness of treatments in children with CAS+ID.