Research Priorities for Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Long View.

This article introduces the Special Issue: Selected Papers From the 2022 Apraxia Kids Research Symposium. The field of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) has developed significantly in the past 15 years, with key improvements in understanding of basic biology including genetics, neuroscience, and computational modelling; development of diagnostic tools and methods; diversity of evidence-based interventions with increasingly rigorous experimental designs; and understanding of impacts beyond impairment-level measures. Papers in this special issue not only review and synthesize the some of the substantial progress to date but also present novel findings addressing critical research gaps and adding to the overall body of knowledge.

Caregiver and child perspectives of wellbeing in school-age children with childhood apraxia of speech.

Purpose: Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a communication deficit that impacts a child's overall quality of life, including their academic and social interactions, yet few studies have investigated the impact from the child's perspective. Using The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework, we examined the children's and caregivers' perspectives on the impact of CAS on their overall wellbeing.

Method: Survey data were collected from 32 child-caregiver dyads for children ages 9-17 years with CAS.

Traditional and Visual-Acoustic Biofeedback Treatment via Telepractice for Residual Speech Sound Disorders Affecting /ɹ/: Pilot study.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the feasibility of telepractice delivery of a treatment package including visual-acoustic biofeedback and motor-based treatment for residual speech sound disorder affecting /ɹ/ in school-age children. The overall study used a single-case randomization design; however, this preliminary report will simply quantify changes in accuracy before and after completion of the treatment package. The present analysis did not differentiate between the relative contributions of biofeedback and motor-based treatments.

Comparing online versus laboratory measures of speech perception in older children and adolescents.

Given the increasing prevalence of online data collection, it is important to know how behavioral data obtained online compare to samples collected in the laboratory. This study compares online and in-person measurement of speech perception in older children and adolescents. Speech perception is important for assessment and treatment planning in speech-language pathology; we focus on the American English /ɹ/ sound because of its frequency as a clinical target.

Evaluating acoustic representations and normalization for rhoticity classification in children with speech sound disorders.

The effects of different acoustic representations and normalizations were compared for classifiers predicting perception of children's rhotic versus derhotic /ɹ/. Formant and Mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) representations for 350 speakers were z-standardized, either relative to values in the same utterance or age-and-sex data for typical /ɹ/. Statistical modeling indicated age-and-sex normalization significantly increased classifier performances.

Preliminary Speech Perception Performance Profiles of School-Age Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Speech Sound Disorder, and Typical Development.

Purpose: Limited research exists assessing speech perception in school-age children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and childhood apraxia of speech (CAS); despite early evidence that speech perception may lead to error-prone motor planning/programming. In this study, we examine speech perception performance in school-age children with and without speech production deficits.

Method: Speech perception was assessed using the Wide Range Acoustic Accuracy Scale to determine the just-noticeable difference in discrimination for three consonant-vowel syllable contrasts (/bɑ/-/wɑ/, /dɑ/-/gɑ/, /ɹɑ/-/wɑ/), each varying along a single acoustic parameter for seven children with CAS with rhotic errors, seven children with SSD with rhotic errors, and seven typically developing (TD) children.

Reproducible Speech Research With the Artificial Intelligence-Ready PERCEPT Corpora.

Background: Publicly available speech corpora facilitate reproducible research by providing open-access data for participants who have consented/assented to data sharing among different research teams. Such corpora can also support clinical education, including perceptual training and training in the use of speech analysis tools.

Purpose: In this research note, we introduce the PERCEPT (Perceptual Error Rating for the Clinical Evaluation of Phonetic Targets) corpora, PERCEPT-R (Rhotics) and PERCEPT-GFTA (Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation), which together contain over 36 hr of speech audio (> 125,000 syllable, word, and phrase utterances) from children, adolescents, and young adults aged 6-24 years with speech sound disorder (primarily residual speech sound disorders impacting /ɹ/) and age-matched peers.

Auditory and Somatosensory Development for Speech in Later Childhood.

Purpose: This study collected measures of auditory-perceptual and oral somatosensory acuity in typically developing children and adolescents aged 9-15 years. We aimed to establish reference data that can be used as a point of comparison for individuals with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD), especially for RSSD affecting American English rhotics. We examined concurrent validity between tasks and hypothesized that performance on at least some tasks would show a significant association with age, reflecting ongoing refinement of sensory function in later childhood.

Tutorial: Using Visual-Acoustic Biofeedback for Speech Sound Training.

Purpose: This tutorial summarizes current practices using visual-acoustic biofeedback (VAB) treatment to improve speech outcomes for individuals with speech sound difficulties. Clinical strategies will focus on residual distortions of /ɹ/.

Method: Summary evidence related to the characteristics of VAB and the populations that may benefit from this treatment are reviewed.

Clinical Considerations for Speech Perception in School-Age Children With Speech Sound Disorders: A Review of the Current Literature.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to synthesize the methodological variability in the speech perception literature for school-age children with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD), with the primary intention of using the existing knowledge to inform clinical decisions and optimize treatment outcomes for children.

Method: Ten electronic databases were systematically searched to identify articles examining the speech perception skills of school-age children with RSSD. A total of 11 articles met inclusion criteria, reporting of methodological characteristics was rated and compared across studies, and findings were summarized.

Adult perception of stop consonant voicing in American-English-learning toddlers: Voice onset time and secondary cues.

Most studies of speech perception employ highly controlled stimuli. It is not always clear how such results extend to the processing of natural speech. In a series of experiments, we progressively explored the role of voice onset time (VOT) and potential secondary cues in adult labeling of stressed syllable-initial /b d p t/ produced by typically developing two-year-old learners of American English.

Comparing Biofeedback Types for Children With Residual /ɹ/ Errors in American English: A Single-Case Randomization Design.

Purpose Research comparing different biofeedback types could lead to individualized treatments for those with residual speech errors. This study examines within-treatment response to ultrasound and visual-acoustic biofeedback, as well as generalization to untrained words, for errors affecting the American English rhotic /ɹ/. We investigated whether some children demonstrated greater improvement in /ɹ/ during ultrasound or visual-acoustic biofeedback.

Computer-assisted challenge point intervention for residual speech errors.

Purpose: This preliminary case series investigated the effects of biofeedback intervention for residual rhotic errors delivered within a modified challenge point framework. In the challenge point framework, practice difficulty is adaptively adjusted with the goal of enhancing generalization learning. This study more specifically evaluated the feasibility of a computer-mediated implementation of challenge point treatment for rhotic errors using a custom open-source software, the .

Associations Between Speech Perception, Vocabulary, and Phonological Awareness Skill in School-Aged Children With Speech Sound Disorders.

Purpose Prior studies report conflicting descriptions of the relationships between phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and speech perception in preschoolers with speech disorders. This study sought to determine the nature of these relationships in a sample of school-aged children with residual speech sound errors affecting /ɹ/. Method Participants included 110 children aged 7;0-17;4 (years;months) with residual errors impacting /ɹ/.

Tutorial: Motor-Based Treatment Strategies for /r/ Distortions.

Purpose This tutorial summarizes current best practices in treating American English /r/ distortions in children with residual speech errors. Method To enhance the effectiveness of clinicians' cueing and feedback, the phonetics of /r/ production is reviewed. Principles of acquisition, which can inform how to practice /r/ in the early stages of therapy, are explained.

Auditory Perception and Ultrasound Biofeedback Treatment Outcomes for Children With Residual /ɹ/ Distortions: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose This study evaluated whether outcomes from treatment, which includes ultrasound visual feedback (UVF), would be more or less effective when combined with auditory perception training for children with residual /ɹ/ errors. Method Children ages 8-16 years with /ɹ/ distortions participated in speech therapy that included real-time UVF of the tongue. Thirty-eight participants were randomized to speech therapy conditions that included a primary focus on articulation using UVF or a condition that included auditory perceptual training plus UVF (incorporating category goodness judgments and self-monitoring).

Protocol for Correcting Residual Errors with Spectral, ULtrasound, Traditional Speech therapy Randomized Controlled Trial (C-RESULTS RCT).

Background: Speech sound disorder in childhood poses a barrier to academic and social participation, with potentially lifelong consequences for educational and occupational outcomes. While most speech errors resolve by the late school-age years, between 2 and 5% of speakers exhibit residual speech errors (RSE) that persist through adolescence or even adulthood. Previous findings from small-scale studies suggest that interventions incorporating visual biofeedback can outperform traditional motor-based treatment approaches for children with RSE, but this question has not been investigated in a well-powered randomized controlled trial.

Speech Sound Disorder and Visual Biofeedback Intervention: A Preliminary Investigation of Treatment Intensity.

A growing body of research suggests that cases of speech sound errors that have not responded to previous intervention can sometimes be eliminated through speech therapy incorporating visual biofeedback. Aside from considerations related to the specific biofeedback type, acquisition and generalization of a motor plan may be linked to treatment intensity. Several researchers have raised the possibility that inadequate dosage levels may present a significant barrier to success.

Efficacy of Electropalatography for Treating Misarticulation of /r/.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to document the efficacy of electropalatography (EPG) for the treatment of rhotic errors in school-age children. Despite a growing body of literature using EPG for the treatment of speech sound errors, there is little systematic evidence about the relative efficacy of EPG for rhotic errors.

Method: Participants were 5 English-speaking children aged 6;10 to 9;10, who produced /r/ at the word level with < 30% accuracy but otherwise showed typical speech, language, and hearing abilities.

Selecting an acoustic correlate for automated measurement of American English rhotic production in children.

: A current need in the field of speech-language pathology is the development of reliable and efficient techniques to evaluate accuracy of speech targets over the course of treatment. As acoustic measurement techniques improve, it should become possible to use automated scoring in lieu of ratings from a trained clinician in some contexts. This study asks which acoustic measures correspond most closely with expert ratings of children's productions of American English /ɹ/ in an effort to develop an automated scoring algorithm for use in treatment targeting rhotics.

Masked Visual Analysis: Minimizing Type I Error in Visually Guided Single-Case Design for Communication Disorders.

Purpose: Single-case experimental designs are widely used to study interventions for communication disorders. Traditionally, single-case experiments follow a response-guided approach, where design decisions during the study are based on participants' observed patterns of behavior. However, this approach has been criticized for its high rate of Type I error.

Finding the experts in the crowd: Validity and reliability of crowdsourced measures of children's gradient speech contrasts.

Perceptual ratings aggregated across multiple nonexpert listeners can be used to measure covert contrast in child speech. Online crowdsourcing provides access to a large pool of raters, but for practical purposes, researchers may wish to use smaller samples. The ratings obtained from these smaller samples may not maintain the high levels of validity seen in larger samples.

Longitudinal observations of typical English voicing acquisition in a 2-year-old child: Stability of the contrast and considerations for clinical assessment.

Early assessment of phonetic and phonological development requires knowledge of typical versus atypical speech patterns, as well as the range of individual developmental trajectories. The nature of data reporting in previous literature on typical voicing acquisition left aspects of the developmental process unclear and limited clinical applicability. This work extends a previous four-month group study to present data for one child over 12 months.

Social, Emotional, and Academic Impact of Residual Speech Errors in School-Aged Children: A Survey Study.

Children with residual speech errors face an increased risk of social, emotional, and/or academic challenges relative to their peers with typical speech. Previous research has shown that the effects of speech sound disorder may persist into adulthood and span multiple domains of activity limitations and/or participation restrictions, as defined by the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health model. However, the nature and extent of these influences varies widely across children.

Enhancing generalisation in biofeedback intervention using the challenge point framework: a case study.

Biofeedback intervention can help children achieve correct production of a treatment-resistant error sound, but generalisation is often limited. This case study suggests that generalisation can be enhanced when biofeedback intervention is structured in accordance with a "challenge point" framework for speech-motor learning. The participant was an 11-year-old with residual /r/ misarticulation who had previously attained correct /r/ production through a structured course of ultrasound biofeedback treatment but did not generalise these gains beyond the word level.