Speech Treatment Effects on Narrative Intelligibility in French-Speaking Children With Dysarthria

Abstract

Purpose This study examined the effects of Speech Intelligibility Treatment (SIT) on intelligibility and naturalness of narrative speech produced by francophone children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy. Method Ten francophone children with dysarthria were randomized to one of two treatments, SIT or Hand–Arm Bimanual Intensive Therapy Including Lower Extremities, a physical therapy (PT) treatment. Both treatments were conducted in a camp setting and were comparable in dosage. The children were recorded pre- and posttreatment producing a story narrative. Intelligibility was measured by means of 60 blinded listeners' orthographic transcription accuracy (percentage of words transcribed correctly). The listeners also rated the children's naturalness on a visual analogue scale. Results A significant pre- to posttreatment increase in intelligibility was found for the SIT group, but not for the PT group, with great individual variability observed among the children. No significant changes were found for naturalness ratings or sound pressure level in the SIT group or the PT group posttreatment. Articulation rate increased in both treatment groups, although not differentially across treatments. Conclusions Findings from this first treatment study on intelligibility in francophone children with dysarthria suggest that SIT shows promise for increasing narrative intelligibility in this population. Acoustic contributors to the increased intelligibility remain to be explored further. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14161943

Speech treatment for Hebrew‐speaking adolescents and young adults with developmental dysarthria: A comparison of mSIT and Beatalk

“…The current findings are in line with those of previous studies: Levy et al (2021) examined the effect of SIT intervention on narrative intelligibility among Englishspeaking children and adolescents (mean age = 10 years), with significant gains reported on outcome measures. Similarly, Moya-Galé et al (2021b) applied the SIT intervention to French-speaking children (mean age = 8 years) and reported improved narrative intelligibility as well.…”

“…Sentence‐level intelligibility measures (Levy et al., 2021; Moya‐Galé et al., 2021b) reflect naturalistic conversational speech and were relevant to at least some of the current participant sample. Judgment of sentence‐level intelligibility is typically conducted via naïve listeners, similar to the transcription procedure of the single‐word intelligibility measure noted above.…”

“…The study was implemented in a group pre‐ to post‐treatment research design (as in Icht, 2019; Levy et al., 2013; Moya‐Galé et al., 2021b). All assessment and treatment procedures were conducted at the educational rehabilitative centre by speech and language therapy graduate research assistants fully trained in each of the treatment approaches by the first and third authors.…”

“…• First and second formants (F1, F2): A comparison of vowel formants across all three corner vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/) from pre-to post-treatment was conducted, in order to determine any change in vowel space area (e.g., Levy et al, 2021;Mou et al, 2019). • Triangular vowel space area (tVSA): The area of the acoustic space (F1 × F2) enclosed by the three corner vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/), with formants averaged across multiple repetitions of each vowel.…”

“…Similar to LSVT LOUD, this approach also involves the use of global cues for the treatment of intelligibility deficits among children with developmental dysarthria. Designed for children with CP, SIT is a dual‐focus approach (Levy et al., 2017, 2021; Moya‐Galé et al., 2021b) in which both speech loudness and articulatory excursions are targeted. On the one hand, it aims for the benefits of increasing vocal intensity through the ‘strong voice’ instruction, as detailed above (see LSVT LOUD).…”