Motor speech vs. contextualized practice in CAS (McNamara et al., 2026)
Year: 2026
Type: other
Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare retention of real-word targets across practice conditions (contextualized vs. motor-only) within a modified integral stimulation treatment for preschoolers with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).Method: A single-subject experimental design with alternating treatments was used with matched target sets randomly assigned to contextualized practice, motor-only practice, or no treatment. Three preschoolers with CAS completed 18 therapy sessions, each consisting of two 25-min blocks: one contextualized practice and one motor-only practice. Order of practice was randomized each visit. Changes in percent phonemes correct (PPC) and lexical stress accuracy, derived from blinded transcription, were explored with visual analysis and effect sizes (standardized mean difference, d statistic).Results: Meaningful improvements (d > 1) were observed in PPC across words treated in contextualized practice for all three children immediately posttreatment and for two of three children at the 1-month follow-up. Meaningful improvements in the motor-only condition were observed in two of three children immediately posttreatment and at follow-up. No meaningful changes were observed in lexical stress across any conditions in any participant.Conclusions: This study provides preliminary support for the feasibility of a modified integral stimulation therapy that incorporates elements of linguistically grounded therapies (linguistic retrieval, recasts, expansions) that may facilitate target retention in some preschoolers with CAS. However, other elements should be explored in conjunction with integral stimulation to maximize clinical outcomes.Supplemental Material S1. Contextualized practice: This is a short example of therapy procedures used in the contextualized practice condition. The first author is the clinician.Supplemental Material S2. Motor-only practice: This is a short example of therapy procedures used in the motor-only practice condition. The first author is the clinician.McNamara, K. A., Caballero, N. F., & Preston, J. L. (2026). Comparing traditional motor speech practice to contextualized speech practice in preschoolers with childhood apraxia of speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 35(5), 2262–2284. https://doi.org/10.1044/2026_AJSLP-26-00079
Source: figshare ASHA Publications
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203445976