Effects of integral stimulation therapy on speech - Portland State ...

A number <strong>of</strong> sessions were missed toward the end <strong>of</strong> the study as CP was sick
with colds. Further limitations in the form <strong>of</strong> data collection occurred when this clinician
inadvertently skipped a speech probe phrase (resulting in less data to include) or when
video equipment did not operate effectively. More comprehensive analysis (tracking selfcorrections,
number <strong>of</strong> productions, feedback tracking) <strong>of</strong> CP’s treatment would have
been possible if every treatment session had been recorded. In this case, each speech
probe was recorded when the child was seated, but full sessions were not consistently
recorded as <strong>therapy</strong> required much movement and <strong>of</strong>ten practice outside <strong>of</strong> the speech
room (hallway activities).
Perhaps the most significant limitation <strong>of</strong> this study is that it included a single
child rather than multiple subjects. CAS is a relatively rare speech disorder that is <strong>of</strong>ten
misdiagnosed and difficult to identify, but efficacy studies that include larger samples <strong>of</strong>
children would allow speech language-pathologists and parents alike to seek treatment
for children with CAS more assuredly.
The suggestions <strong>of</strong> this study are that frequent and intense motor practice <strong>of</strong>
speech sounds in a variety <strong>of</strong> contexts with multi-sensory supports can greatly improve
the intelligibility <strong>of</strong> a child with motor speech impairment like CAS. In this study, CP’s
speech showed significant improvement for all target sound sets which generalized to
spontaneous speech contexts in 3 out <strong>of</strong> the 4 target sound sets. In addition to greater
speech accuracy, CP demonstrated a dramatic increase in the number <strong>of</strong> utterances used
during spontaneous speech (pre-treatment MLU <strong>of</strong> 1.3 vs. 4.5 MLU following treatment).
Family members and teachers commented on CP’s ability to communicate his thoughts
more clearly and with more complexity than he had before <strong>integral</strong> <strong>stimulation</strong> <strong>therapy</strong>
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