Motor Speech Interventions for Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Korkalainen, J., McCabe, P., et al. (2023).

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(1), 110-125.

This systematic review examines the effects of motor speech interventions to improve speech intelligibility outcomes in children 18 years of age or younger with cerebral palsy. Additionally, the authors categorized the principles of motor learning used in each intervention and summarized the aims and outcomes based on the International Classification of Functioning and Disability Child and Youth (ICF-CY) framework.

Not stated

January 1, 2000 - December 31, 2022

All study designs except qualitative studies

21

<div>The following motor speech interventions were identified in children with motor speech disorders secondary to CP across 21 studies:</div> <ul> <li>Beatalk (i.e., a speech-based therapy based on human beatboxing) ,</li> <li>Electropalatography (EPG),</li> <li>Intensive dysarthria therapy (IDT),</li> <li>Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD),</li> <li>Phonetic Placement Therapy (PPT),</li> <li>Prompts for Restructuring Oral Musculature Phonetic Targets (PROMPT),</li> <li>Speech Intelligibility Treatment and Modified Speech Intelligibility Treatment (SIT/mSIT), and</li> <li>Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with integrative speech therapy.</li> </ul> <p>All eight interventions reported improvements in speech intelligibility at the word level with IDT, PROMPT, and mSIT reporting the largest effects (<em>d</em>=0.8-1.2). Five interventions (Beatalk, IDT, LSVT LOUD, PROMPT, and SIT/mSIT) also reported improvements in sentence level intelligibility and one intervention (SIT) reported improvements in communication participation. The overall quality of the evidence ranged from moderate to very low. Therefore, while the findings of this review are promising, further high quality research is needed to determine the effects of motor speech interventions on connected speech and communication participation for children with cerebral palsy.</p>