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Author Information

Katherine MahoneyFollow

Abstract/Description

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a speech disorder that affects a child’s ability to communicate verbally. Various intervention approaches have been suggested to treat CAS; however, there is no one standard intervention approach currently available to clinicians. In any clinical profession, an intervention should be selected in accordance to the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP) which incorporates high quality evidence, clinical expertise, and client/stakeholder values in the decision-making processes. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide a comprehensive examination of the supporting evidence for intervention approaches for CAS in the published peer-reviewed literature. The data from this narrative review will provide speech-language pathologists with information based on rigorous research design methods applied in this study. This study investigated CAS intervention studies in the peer-reviewed literature from 2009 to 2014 through an online database search. The search resulted in 13 studies that met the specific inclusionary and exclusionary criteria for the study. Data were extracted from the studies and the levels of evidence were set for each. The largest percentage of studies reflected a Level IIb (quasi-experimental design) and most employed a single-subject design. There were no meta-analyses found in the search and only one randomized control trial (Ib) was found. The results of this narrative review indicate the need for CAS intervention studies that incorporate research designs which are considered high quality evidence, e.g., randomized control trials (RCTs). RCTs can provide support for clinicians engaged in EBP to choose an intervention technique that is appropriate for their client which results in the best possible client outcomes. Further research for CAS intervention approaches using strong research designs is needed.

Note on the Author

Katherine Mahoney is a senior majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her research project was conducted in the summer of 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Suzanne Miller (Communication Sciences and Disorders). This project was fully funded by an Adrian Tinsley Program summer research grant.

Rights Statement

Articles published in The Undergraduate Review are the property of the individual contributors and may not be reprinted, reformatted, repurposed or duplicated, without the contributor’s consent.

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