What is it about?
The treatment methods and theoretical underpinnings of the Speech Motor Learning (SML) approach to treating childhood and acquired apraxia of speech (CAS and AOS) are described. This approach is grounded in the four level framework of speech sensorimotor control (Van der Merwe, 1997; 2009). In the reported study, the SML approach was applied in the treatment of a 33-month-old monolingual boy with idiopathic CAS and no other disorders. The results suggest positive effects on speech production.
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Why is it important?
This study contributes to the growing literature on the treatment of CAS and proposes SML treatment (Van der Merwe, 2002, 2011) as a promising approach. The SML approach suggests guidelines regarding "what" children practice (treatment stimuli or targets) and also "how" they practice (steps to follow during treatment).
Perspectives
This paper proposes the SML approach as a theory-based treatment for childhood apraxia of speech. This provides me with the opportunity to introduce an international audience to this approach, which I started developing in the 1970s, and which has been applied in my country for approximately the past 30 years. The approach is not language-specific and treatment stimuli / targets can be developed for any language by means of the software which is available from my website at no cost.
Professor Anita Van der Merwe
University of Pretoria
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Model-Driven Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Positive Effects of the Speech Motor Learning Approach, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, February 2018, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2017_ajslp-15-0193.
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