# ASSIST: Child Apraxia Speech Treatment

> **NIH NIH R01** · TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH · 2021 · $479,619

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a pediatric motor speech disorder that impairs the planning of
movements needed for intelligible speech. CAS may limit literacy, academic and economic outcomes and
participation in society. Approximately 40,000 to 160,000 children under 10 have CAS in the US, and over 60%
of school-based speech-language pathologists have children with CAS on their caseload, with on average 3
children per caseload. Children with CAS often show little or slow progress in standard speech therapy, which
has led to recommendations for intensive intervention and calls for systematic research to optimize outcomes.
Given the limited resources in clinical settings, it is imperative to maximize impact of these limited resources for
children with CAS. This proposal fits with NIDCD’s Strategic Plan in that it aims to develop and test an effective
treatment for an explicitly noted understudied population (CAS).
 Various treatment approaches for CAS exist, with integral stimulation treatment (“watch me, listen to me, say
what I say”) being the only treatment method to date with independently replicated support. Nevertheless, the
current evidence base is limited both in study quality and scope. In terms of study quality, all studies to date have
involved single-case experimental designs with small sample sizes and varying methodological rigor. In terms of
scope, the extant studies vary considerably with respect to important treatment parameters that may critically
impact outcomes. Two such important yet poorly understood parameters relate to optimal target selection and
optimal treatment intensity. Another limitation of scope is that virtually all studies have relied exclusively on
impairment-level outcome measures, and have not included more functional outcome measures related to
activity and participation. For these reasons, speech-language pathologists lack adequate information to make
clinical decisions for their clients.
 The proposed research is a Phase I study that tests initial efficacy and optimal parameters of a theoretically
based integral stimulation treatment called ASSIST (Apraxia of Speech Systematic Integral Stimulation
Treatment). In three small randomized group design studies, children (N=20 per study) receive 16 hours of
individual ASSIST. The three studies systematically investigate treatment intensity (2 vs. 4 weeks) and two
critical aspects of target selection: complexity (simple vs. complex target) and lexicality (words vs. nonwords).
Each study also systematically examines the effect of treatment on functional outcome measures, including
parent ratings of intelligibility and communicative participation, and objective intelligibility measures obtained
from unfamiliar listeners. Thus, this research will gather vital information for a Phase II trial of preliminary efficacy
and contribute high-quality evidence that will help speech-language pathologists make evidence-based clinical
decisions. The long ter...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10132297
- **Project number:** 5R01DC017768-03
- **Recipient organization:** TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Edwin Maas
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $479,619
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-15 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10132297

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10132297, ASSIST: Child Apraxia Speech Treatment (5R01DC017768-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10132297. Licensed CC0.

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