Apraxia Research Projects Recruiting Subjects

CASANA has made it a policy to share information through its Apraxia-KIDS^SM resources for legitimate research projects that are currently recruiting subjects. In order to be accepted, the projects must be related to apraxia or related research and must meet certain requirements established by CASANA's Professional Advisory Board. The most important requirement is that all projects shared through Apraxia-KIDS^SM resources must provide evidence of approval from an Institutional Review Board or Human Subjects Oversight Board. These entities assure that research projects are ethical and are safe.

**We share this as information only. Parents and families must use their best judgement regarding participating in research projects.

May 2010

Efficacy of PROMPT in Treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech
University of New Mexico
Lead investigator: Philip Dale, Ph.D.
Co-investigator: Deborah Hayden, MA, CCC-SLP

Autism and Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech Study
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lead Investigator: Jennifer C. Dalton, MA, CCC-SLP

Genetic substrates of speech sound disorder: Testing three novel hypotheses
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Lead investigator: Beate Peter, Ph.D.

June 2010

Motor Speech Characteristics of Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and Autism (Survey)
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Lead Investigator: Rebecca McCauley, Ph.D.
Co-Investigators: Richa Deshmukh, Doctoral Candidate; Sherine Tambyraja, Ph.D. Student

September 2010

Autism and Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech Study
Updated
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lead Investigator: Jennifer C. Dalton, MA, CCC-SLP

Efficacy of PROMPT in Treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech
University of New Mexico
Lead investigator: Philip Dale, Ph.D.
Co-investigator: Deborah Hayden, MA, CCC-SLP

Purpose of Study
Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) is a treatment approach commonly used with children with impaired speech production skills. It involves the use of tactile cues (touch) to support and shape movements of the articulator (oral and facial structures) in order to improve the production of individual sounds, syllables, words and eventually connected speech. The underlying assumption is that tactile cuing will facilitate changes in the movements of the speech articulators.

In the current study we will be investigating if 16 sessions of PROMPT treatment (using tactile cueing) results in more significant gains in the targeted phonemes, words and phrases than when only part of the 16 weeks includes tactual cueing with respect to improved articulation, consistency on a standard articulation test and improved quality of speech movements. We will also be investigating if the quality of the speech movements compares to auditory-perceptual measures of speech (articulation and speech intelligibility) and if these changes generalize to untrained words?

Subject selection and criteria for inclusion:
We are looking for children, between the ages of 4 and 6, who have been diagnosed with CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech) and demonstrate a moderate to severe speech impairment. The children will be recruited from the Albuquerque-Santa Fe region. The children must be free of organic impairments (hearing, severe motor, or cognitive). The children must be monolingual English speakers to avoid any influence of another language. If, currently enrolled in speech therapy the treating therapist must agree to only focus on receptive language for the PROMPT treatment period or to postpone active treatment until the PROMPT treatment and follow-up testing (8-14 weeks) are completed.

Where will the study take place:|
The study will be conducted in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque or at the PROMPT Institute in Santa Fe. Children will receive PROMPT treatment twice a week for 8 weeks (sixteen sessions) by a Certified PROMPT clinician, at no cost to the family. If participants continue to require treatment beyond the eight weeks, they will be given the opportunity to continue treatment at either UNM or The PROMPT Institute. Parent/guardians will be informed that they will need to pay for ongoing services.

If interested, please contact:
Deborah Hayden at the PROMPT Institute, 505.466.7710, deb@promptinstitute.com
Download Copy of Recruitment Flyer

[The above study is approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of New Mexico]

Autism and Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech Study
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Principal Investigator: Jennifer C. Dalton, M.A., CCC-SLP

The purpose of this study is to examine how children engage with other people verbally during play and their overall speech production ability. Currently, the study is seeking boys and girls in the North Carolina who: (a) have been diagnosed with a suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech, (b) are aged 4-5 1/2 years, and (c) who have age appropriate language development. Participants will receive a hearing screening and other developmental assessments in the areas of joint attention, imitation skills, and language. Participants will be seen in one session at their homes for 1 1/2 hours. Each participant family will be reimbursed with a $20 Wal-mart giftcard. Each child's participation will contribute to the available research aimed at developing improved communication interventions for children with a suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech. If you are interested in learning more about this study and possibly enrolling your child, please contact Jennifer C. Dalton at jennifer_dalton@med.unc.edu , and provide a name and contact number where you can be reached for follow-up.

[This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]

Genetic substrates of speech sound disorder: Testing three novel hypotheses
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Principal Investigator: Beate Peter, Ph.D.

A family study at the University of Washington is looking for participants to find out how difficulties with learning to speak are inherited and how the brain processes speech sounds. Children with speech disorders may qualify for this study. We want to include the whole family in this study: the child, both biological parents, siblings, and, if available, grandparents and other relatives. Besides the child with a speech disorder, at least two other family members must have a speech disorder also, or have had one in the past. Everyone who participates will be asked to complete some or all of the following tasks: speech, language, reading, and reasoning tests, do hand movement tasks, have brain measurements similar to an EEG, and give a small amount of blood or saliva. Your family may qualify for this study if your child has a speech disorder without a known cause.
Click here for a recruitment flyer and more information

[This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Washington, #38237, http://washington.edu/research/hsd ]

Motor Speech Characteristics of Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and Autism (Survey)
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Lead Investigator: Rebecca McCauley, Ph.D.
Co-Investigators: Richa Deshmukh, Doctoral Candidate; Sherine Tambyraja, Ph.D. Student

Purpose of the Study:
The purpose of the proposed research study is (1) to identify the motor speech characteristics of children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) (2) to identify the motor speech characteristics of children with autism. These characteristics will be determined through submission of an anonymous online survey by parents and speech-language pathologists of children with these two disorders.

Survey information for potential participant

We are PhD students in the department of Speech and Hearing Science at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. We are interested in motor speech characteristics of children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and children with autism.

In collaboration with our advisor, Dr Rebecca J. McCauley, Ph.D., Professor, Ohio State University, we are conducting a study to better understand speech motor characteristics of these two populations. We invite you to participate in this brief survey, which will not take more than 15 minutes to complete. It is designed for both parents and clinicians so please feel free to forward this link to any Speech Language Pathologists or parents of children with autism and/or CAS. This survey will remain open throughout the month of July.

If you choose to participate, your identity will remain unknown and only aggregate data will be reported in the published accounts of the study.

To participate in the survey, please click on the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PNWVQDG

We thank you in advance for your contribution to our study. Your time is greatly appreciated.

Richa Deshmukh (deshmukh.10@buckeyemail.osu.edu )

Sherine Tambyraja (tambyraja.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu )

Department of Speech and Hearing Science
The Ohio State University
1070 Carmack Road,
Columbus, OH 43210

(This study has been approved by the Office of Responsible Research Practices of The Ohio State University, Protocal #2010E0359; phone: 614-688-8457)