Dosage of sound production treatment (Wambaugh et al., 2020)

Abstract

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the association of dosage and effects of Sound Production Treatment (SPT) for acquired apraxia of speech.Method: Treatment logs and probe data from 20 speakers with apraxia of speech and aphasia were submitted to a retrospective analysis. The number of treatment sessions and teaching episodes was examined relative to (a) change in articulation accuracy above baseline performance, (b) mastery of production, and (c) maintenance. The impact of practice schedule (SPT-Blocked vs. SPT-Random) was also examined.Results: The average number of treatment sessions conducted prior to change was 5.4 for SPT-Blocked and 3.9 for SPT-Random. The mean number of teaching episodes preceding change was 334 for SPT-Blocked and 179 for SPT-Random. Mastery occurred within an average of 13.7 sessions (1,252 teaching episodes) and 12.4 sessions (1,082 teaching episodes) for SPT-Blocked and SPT-Random, respectively. Comparisons of dosage metric values across practice schedules did not reveal substantial differences. Significant negative correlations were found between follow-up probe performance and the dosage metrics.Conclusions: Only a few treatment sessions were needed to achieve initial positive changes in articulation, with mastery occurring within 12–14 sessions for the majority of participants. Earlier occurrence of change or mastery was associated with better follow-up performance.Supplemental Material S1. Summary data and statistics for individual participants.Supplemental Material S2. Supplemental figures.Wambaugh, J., L., Kallhoff, L., & Nesller, C. (2020). Sound production treatment for acquired apraxia of speech: An examination of dosage in relation to probe performance. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00110Publisher Note: This article is part of the Special Issue: Select Papers From the 49th Clinical Aphasiology Conference.