None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This project aims to evaluate the efficacy of a parent-supervised app-based assessment and intervention program for delivery speech pathology services to children with speech sound disorder (SSD) while they are waiting for standard pathology services. The innovation is in using the program with children on a waiting list. It has been found efficacious in previous studies with children already receiving standard speech pathology services. Primary expected outcome is a new effective approach to managing the chronic shortage of speech pathology services in Australia for children with SSD. Significant benefits will be realised through children accessing low cost speech therapy earlier. The study has two secondary aims. First, we will also test the robustness of our automated speech analysis algorithms for assessment of children’s speech, which has the potential to reduce the time/cost burden of manual speech assessment by speech pathologists. Second, we will explore whether videos of upper body (including face and hand movement) provide insights into how motor control of face and hands changes as speech accuracy increases with treatment.
Interventions
Parent-supervised app-based intervention program (Say Bananas) that delivers speech pathology treatment to children with speech sound disorder (SSD), in the home, while they are waiting for standard pathology services. The intervention applies Principles of Motor Learning embedded in a Mario-style video platformer game to provide 20-min high-intensity daily practice sessions, while capping children to 1 session per day to control screen time.
Children play the game for 20 mins/day (this elicits
Parent-supervised app-based intervention program (Say Bananas) that delivers speech pathology treatment to children with speech sound disorder (SSD), in the home, while they are waiting for standard pathology services. The intervention applies Principles of Motor Learning embedded in a Mario-style video platformer game to provide 20-min high-intensity daily practice sessions, while capping children to 1 session per day to control screen time. Children play the game for 20 mins/day (this elicits 100 speech responses), 4 times a week for 4 weeks (total of 1600 speech productions). Speech targets elicited in the game are tailored to each child's specific speech errors. Parents are given one 1-hour session to setup up the app with their child's speech targets and train them in judging when their child's responses are correct or incorrect, so that they can enter the judgments in to the game after each child response during home practice with the app. The delivery of the intervention via an app negates the need for measuring fidelity. However, adherence to the dosage is tracked via app metadata. Also, all responses in the app are uploaded to a secure server so that reliability of the parent's judgments of their child's response accuracy can be compared against clinicians. Inter-rater reliability will be reported as well as correlation between parent reliability and magnitude of child's response to treatment.
Sponsors
University of Sydney
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
4 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children aged 4–12 years; born in Australia and English speaking; no/mild receptive language difficulty, pass a hearing screening using the Ling Seven Sound Check (Ling, 1976).
Exclusion criteria
Children who do not speak English, have moderate or worse receptive language skills, upper limb physical disability that prevents them from effectively using the hand controls in videogames, parent report of uncorrected hearing impairment, are currently enrolled in community-based speech therapy for a speech sound disorder.
Outcome results
None listed