This project is a dance curriculum unit designed for teachers working with students who have learning handicaps. It is specifically designed for students in grades three through sixth. It can be used in coordination with the performing arts curriculum or the physical education curriculum.

In the first stages of long-term athlete development, the so-called multilateral development is recommended. It means that children should engage in a variety of different sports during their formative years. Multilateral development in children's sports training is associated with many benefits, such as injury prevention, psychosocial benefits, or transfer of motor skills. It is assumed that children with a higher level of multilateral development acquire specific sport skills faster and more easily than children with a lower level of multilateral development. However, there is a lack of prospective longitudinal studies that would prove or disprove the importance of multilateral development in children's sports training for specific sport skill acquisition. This dissertation aims to investigate the relationship between multilateral development and specific sport skill acquisition, specifically in ice hockey and athletics. This project is based on non-experimental longitudinal research and uses the tools of correlation analysis. We defined multilateral development indicators according to the study by Perič and Ružbarský (2019). For the proband selection, we used a purposive non-probability sampling method. In the first phase of the research, we assessed multilateral development in six- to...

Twenty emotionally disturbed children between the ages of six and twelve from three agencies providing special treatment for behavioral or emotional problems were the subjects for this study. The subjects were divided into two major diagnostic categories, withdrawn and acing out, and then matched in pairs by age and diagnosis. One half of each pair was randomly assigned to the experimental condition and the remaining halves were assigned to the control condition. Both the experimental and control groups contained five withdrawn and five acting out subjects. Four experimenters were used, and each experimenter worked with two or four experimental children and their matched control subjects. The Purdue Perceptual-Motor Survey was administered to all the subjects prior to the experiment and behavior rating of maladaptive behaviors was obtained on each child from three adults who worked closely with the child. Using the methods outlined by Kephart and Radler in “Success Through Play”, the experimental subjects received perceptual-motor training for one-half hour three times a week for nine weeks. The control subjects received individual adult attention for the same amount of time as the training in the form of physical or quiet activities and games. At the end of the nine weeks the subjects were tested with the Purdue Perceptual-Motor Survey again and new behavior ratings also were obtained. The behavior scale was analyzed as a total score and then two subscores were obtained for anti-social and asocial behaviors. Analysis revealed that: 1) The experimental subjects’ perceptual-motor scores increased the most, especially among the withdrawn subjects; 2) The training had little effect on the maladaptive behaviors of the acting out subjects. The experimental acting out subjects improved behaviorally, but not significantly more than the control acting out subjects; 3) The training had a significant effect on the maladaptive behaviors of withdrawn children. The total behavior scores and the asocial behavior scores of the experimental withdrawn children improved; their anti-social scores changed very little. The subjects came from three agencies with different treatment philosophies. One agency was a public school with special classrooms for emotionally disturbed children which exclusively used behavior modification techniques. Another agency was a residential treatment center which was designed for a milieu therapy, where the children are removed from the home. The third agency was a semi-residential treatment center that used a combination of milieu therapy and behavior modification techniques, where the children return home for weekends. There were equal numbers of acting out, withdrawn, experimental and control subjects from any single agency. An analysis of the amount of behavioral improvement within each agency was performed which revealed that there was significantly more improvement among the subjects from the semi-residential treatment agency. It was concluded from this study that; perceptual-motor training increases the perceptual-motor abilities of emotionally disturbed children, especially those diagnosed as withdrawn, childhood schizophrenic and autistic; perceptual-motor training aids in reducing maladaptive behaviors in disturbed children diagnosed as withdrawn, childhood schizophrenic and autistic; perceptual-motor training may most effectively be used for emotionally disturbed children in conjunction with other forms of treatment.

For over two decades, research has shown that providing instructions and feedback to promote an external focus (i.e., mentally focusing on movement effects or outcome) leads to enhanced motor performance and learning, compared to an internal focus (i.e., mentally focusing on the muscles and joints, or movement kinematics). Notably, while a majority of the research has been on healthy young adults, the external focus benefit has also been found to extend to individuals recovering from musculoskeletal dysfunction. Despite the potential benefit of an external focus for rehabilitation, observational studies have revealed that physiotherapists provide their clients with more internal, than external, focus statements and have little awareness of the focus of attention literature. Consequently, the end goal of this doctoral research was to translate the focus of attention research findings into Canadian physiotherapy practice through the design, delivery and assessment of an educational workshop for practicing physiotherapists. With this in mind, the first step became to determine whether such a workshop was warranted by assessing the self-reported focus of attention provision by Canadian physiotherapists. Thus, in Study 1 a study-specific questionnaire, titled the "Therapists' Perceptions of Motor Learning Principles Questionnaire" (TPMLPQ), was designed and completed by 121 Canadian physiotherapists. Results showed an overall low relative frequency of self-reported external focus promotion (M = 31.3%, SD = 14.9), across six hypothetical rehabilitation scenarios. Markedly, descriptions of a functional reaching (M = 55.5 %, SD = 37.0) and pelvic floor task (M = 65.6%, SD = 32.9) resulted in a greater self-reported promotion of external, than internal, focus of attention. These results suggested that Canadian physiotherapists could benefit from an educational workshop on focus of attention, and that there was a potential task dependency for their focus of attention promotion. Study 2 employed virtual one-on-one interviews with eight Southern Ontario-based physiotherapists, all whom completed the TPMLPQ just prior to the interview. The first few questions gathered participants' perceptions on factors that influence physiotherapists' focus of attention use, as well as barriers to promoting an external focus and potential solutions to them. Coding of the interview data generated four themes related to factors that influenced focus of attention use: (1) physiotherapist experiences and characteristics, (2) client experiences and characteristics, (3) task characteristics and (4) focus of attention statement provision strategies. Moreover, the barriers to external focus promotion were organized into three themes: (1) educational experiences, (2) reinforcement of internal focus encouragement once in practice and (3) research aspects. All interviewed physiotherapists proposed continuing education on focus of attention as a solution to these barriers. Questions in the second half of the interview garnered input on how to get physiotherapists to attend a focus of attention workshop, and what activities to include before, during or after the workshop to promote physiotherapists to use more externally focusing statements in their practice. This information was used to inform the workshop design and delivery. In addition to the physiotherapists' input, I also considered previous research that has emphasized the importance of evidence-based training programs to be based on theoretical frameworks. In this regard, Bandura's social cognitive theory was selected as a theoretical foundation. Further, knowing that the target population for the workshop consisted of adults with higher education, Knowles' adult learning theory was also selected as a complimentary theoretical foundation. Additionally, the Kirkpatrick model for training evaluation was selected to guide the assessment of the workshop, due to its strong overlap with constructs from both theoretical frameworks adopted. A final contribution to the workshop design process was holding a virtual group session with four focus of attention researchers in order to gain input on workshop content. The final workshop product consisted of two parts: seven self-directed asynchronous website modules and a synchronous virtual group session. Ultimately, in Study 3, the workshop was delivered to fifteen Canadian physiotherapists. In addition to completing the two workshop components (asynchronous and synchronous), participants completed assessment packages at three time points: (1) one-week pre-synchronous workshop, (2) immediately post-synchronous workshop, and (3) one-week post-synchronous workshop. Analysis of the data revealed a chain of evidence supporting the merits of the workshop. Explicitly, physiotherapists reported high satisfaction (Mdn = 4.60), perceived relevance (Mdn = 4.83), and engagement in the workshop (Mdn = 4.83). Comparing one-week pre- to immediately post-workshop, analyses revealed significant improvements to physiotherapists' (1) scores on the knowledge assessment (pre M = 51.30%, SD = 22.30; post M = 84.30%, SD = 11.50; p < .001, d = 2.06) with an accompanying decrease in the uncertainty in their responses (pre M = 23.19%, SD = 18.05; post M = 1.16%, SD = 1.99; p < .001, d = 1.28), (2) relative frequency of externally focusing to total focus of attention statements created on the skill assessment (pre M = 18.23%, SD = 13.17; post M = 67.95%, SD = 25.13; p < .001, d = 2.11), (3) self-reported attitudes towards learning and practice of external focus promotion (pre M = 88.25, SD = 11.00; post M = 92.83, SD = 6.59; p = .024, d = 0.56) and self-efficacy (pre M = 59.50, SD = 22.36; post M = 85.72, SD = 7.95, p < .001, r = 0.86). Using descriptive statistics, physiotherapists reported that participating in the workshop allowed them to increase their encouragement of external focus adoption (M = 79.00, SD = 15.14). Thirteen of the physiotherapists reported that they believed that their use of externally focusing statements led to improvements in their clients' rehabilitation outcomes (n = 13; M = 68.08, SD = 22.13), while the other two physiotherapists noticed no difference. Finally, those 13 physiotherapists also reported a high intention to continue to provide external focus statements in their practice (M = 87.31, SD = 15.09). In the context of social cognitive theory, these findings suggest that the workshop was successful in strengthening the physiotherapists' behavioral capabilities, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations, suggesting that the behavior change self-reported by the physiotherapists (i.e., more external focus promotion) could extend beyond the short-term assessment period used here. The whole of this doctoral research acts as a powerful step on the pathway to translate focus of attention research into Canadian physiotherapy, and also provides a useful framework for future studies aiming to translate motor learning research into the field - in Canada or globally.

No description available.

In einer doppelt verblindeten Studie untersuchten wir über mehrere Trainingssitzungen hinweg den Einfluss von transkranieller Gleichstromstimulation auf das motorische Lernen bei Personen mit progredienter Multipler Sklerose (PMS). Motorisches Lernen wurde dabei anhand eines Paradigmas gemessen, welches die Ausführung von aus fünf Elementen bestehenden Fingerbewegungssequenzen umfasst. Diese sollten dabei mit den Fingern der rechten Hand auf einer Tastatur so schnell und fehlerfrei wie möglich eingegeben werden. Die Teilnehmenden übten die Ausführung von zwei unterschiedlichen Sequenzen in Trainingseinheiten an den Tagen eins, drei und fünf. An Tag acht stellten sie ihr erreichtes Können in einem finalen Test unter Beweis. Die 3 Trainingseinheiten bestanden dabei aus je 14 Blöcken zu jeweils 60 Tastenanschlägen. Da eine Sequenz aus jeweils 5 Elementen bestand konnten somit im 25 Optimalfall pro Block 12 korrekt ausgeführte Sequenzen eingegeben werden. Der finale Test bestand aus nur vier Blöcken der Trainingsaufgabe. Jeweils im Anschluss an jede der drei Trainingseinheiten erfolgte die Applikation der transkraniellen Gleichstromstimulation (tDCS) oder einer Scheinstimulation (englisch: sham tDCS). Bei der transkraniellen Gleichstromstimulation handelt es sich um eine Form der nicht-invasiven Hirnstimulation. Sie zeichnet sich neben einer guten Verträglichkeit und vergleichsweise einfachen Anwendbarkeit dadurch aus, dass sie die Erregbarkeit des Kortex verändern und über diesen Weg Lernprozesse und die Induktion von Plastizität des Kortex beeinflussen kann. Die Stimulation in der vorliegenden Studie erfolgte für 15 min mit der Anode über dem linken (trainierten) primären Motorcortex (M1) und der Kathode supraorbital auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite. Alle Teilnehmenden absolvierten einen Durchlauf, bestehend aus den drei Trainingseinheiten und dem finalen Test, mit aktiver-tDCS sowie einen weiteren Durchlauf mit der Scheinstimulation. Zwischen den beiden Abschnitten lagen jeweils mindestens 4 Wochen, wobei die Verteilung der Startmodalität doppelt verblindet und balanciert auf die Teilnehmenden erfolgte. Die beiden unterschiedlichen Sequenzen wurden balanciert auf die beiden Durchläufe verteilt. Die Studienpopulation bestand aus 16 Personen im Alter zwischen 33 und 64 Jahren (Mittelwert ± Standardabweichug 51,19 ± 10,56 Jahre). Sechs der teilnehmenden Personen waren weiblich, die Übrigen männlich. Merkliche Unterschiede innerhalb der Studienpopulation bestanden in der bisherigen Krankheitsdauer der PMS, die zwischen einem und 32 Jahren lag (13,13 ± 9,57 Jahre). Alle Teilnehmenden erhielten eine neurologische Untersuchung und wurden mit Hilfe der Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) hinsichtlich ihrer Krankheitsschwere eingeordnet. Die Untersuchungen führten zu Werten zwischen 1,5 und 6,0 (4,38 ± 1,37). Zur Beobachtung der Gehgeschwindigkeit, der Feinmotorik und der kognitiven Auffassungsgabe über die beiden Versuchsabschnitte, wurden an den Tagen eins und acht ein Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) bestehend aus dem Timed 25 Foot Walk (T25W) und dem Nine Hole Peg Test (9HPT) sowie ein gesprochener Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) durchgeführt. Die Quantifizierung der motorischen Leistungen erfolgte durch Betrachtung der Geschwindigkeit, konkret der durchschnittlichen Zeit pro Block, die zur korrekten Eingabe einer Sequenz notwendig war, sowie der Genauigkeit, gemessen an der Anzahl an richtig eingegebenen Sequenzen pro Block. Alle 16 Teilnehmenden absolvierten alle Trainingseinheiten und beide finalen Tests. Die Ergebnisse der Fragebögen und Funktionstests der Teilnehmenden zeigten keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen dem aktive-tDCS- und Scheinstimulationsabschnitt (alle p > 0.26). Die Verblindung der Teilnehmenden hinsichtlich der aktiven bzw. Scheinstimulation erfolgte zufriedenstellend, da bei einer Befragung am Ende der Studie nur die Hälfte aller Teilnehmenden 26 korrekt zuordnen konnten, welche der Interventionen sie bei der ersten und zweiten Trainingsreihe erhalten hatten. Die Datenanalyse erfolgte mittels Messwiederholungs-Varianzanalysen (ANOVA) unter Berücksichtigung der Innersubjekt-Faktoren Intervention (aktive-tDCS, Scheinstimulation), Block (B1, B2..., B14) und Trainingssitzung (T1, T2, T3). Hinsichtlich des primären Endpunkts (Sequenz-Performanz an Tag 8, finaler Test) ergab sich für den Faktor Intervention (akive tDCS vs. sham tDCS) kein signifikanter Unterschied bei der Geschwindigkeit (F(1,15) = 0.974, p = 0.339) oder der Genauigkeit (F(1,15 = 0.622, p = 0.443). Das bedeutet, dass unabhängig von der tDCS Intervention bei beiden Durchgängen das erreichte Leistungsniveau nicht signifikant unterschiedlich war. Über die drei vorherigen Trainingssitzungen hinweg ergaben sich bezüglich der Geschwindigkeit signifikante Haupteffekte für die Faktoren Trainingssitzung (F(1.3,19,4) = 32.054, p < 0.001) und Block (F(2.5,37.6) = 5.039, p < 0.007). Auch für die Genauigkeit der Sequenzausführung zeigte sich ein signifikanter Effekt für den Faktor Training (F(1.3,19.7)=10.385, p=0.002). Diese waren getrieben durch eine Zunahme der Geschwindigkeit sowohl während der einzelnen Trainings als auch von einer Trainingsitzung zur nächsten Sitzung. Während die Genauigkeit der Sequenzausführung sich nicht innerhalb einer Trainingssitzung sondern nur über die 3 Trainingssitzungen hinweg bzw. offline zwischen diesen besserte. Die Messwiederholungs ANOVA zeigte über die drei Trainingssitzungen hinweg bezogen auf die Geschwindigkeit, jedoch keinen signifikanten Effekt für den Faktor Intervention (F(1,15) = 0.670, p = 0.426) und auch keine signifikante Interaktion mit den beiden anderen Faktoren (beide p ≥ 0.563). Ebenso bezogen auf die Genauigkeit der Sequenzausführung zeigte sich kein Effekt des Faktors Intervention (F(1,15) = 1.000, p = 0.333) und ebenfalls keine signifikante Interaktion mit den anderen Faktoren (alle p ≥ 0.433). Dies zeigt, dass die teilnehmenden Personen mit PMS in der Lage waren, die Ausführung der Aufgabe signifikant im Verlauf der wiederholten Trainingssitzungen zu verbessern. Es ergaben sich jedoch auch hier keine Hinweise dafür, dass die offline tDCS einen Einfluss auf die Leistungsparameter der motorischen Aufgabe, genauer die Geschwindigkeit oder die Genauigkeit, hatte. Die Berechnung der Konsolidierung erfolgte als Differenz zwischen der durchschnittlichen Geschwindigkeit oder Genauigkeit der Sequenzausführung in den ersten zwei Blöcken eines Trainings und der durchschnittlichen Geschwindigkeit oder Genauigkeit der Sequenzausfühunrg in den letzten zwei Blöcken am Ende des vorangegangenen Trainings. Die Differenz wurde dabei so berechnet, dass positive Werte eine Verbesserung anzeigten, während negative Konsolidierungswerte eine Verschlechterung der Sequenzausführung im Vergleich mit der 27 Performanz am Ende der vorangegangenen Sitzung bedeuteten. Eine Messwiederholungs ANOVA mit den Faktoren Intervention und Training für diese Konsolidierungswerte ergab weder bezogen auf die Geschwindigkeit noch auf die Genauigkeit signifikante Werte (alle p ≥ 0.275). Dies zeigt, dass die tDCS nicht in der Lage war die offline Konsolidierung signifikant zu beeinflussen. Des weiteren spricht das Fehlen eines signifikanten Haupteffektes des Faktors Trainingssitzung dafür, dass der Erfolg bei der Konsolidierung nach jeder einzelnen Session vergleichbar war und sich nicht über die Zeit änderte. In Zusammenschau zeigen diese Ergebnisse, dass Personen mit PMS trotz ihrer krankheitsbedingten funktionellen Einschränkungen in der Lage sind, die Ausführung einer motorischen Sequenzlernaufgabe durch wiederholtes Üben signifikant zu verbessern. Hinsichtlich der Frage, ob motorisches Lernen durch offline-tDCS bei Personen mit PMS relevant unterstützt werden kann, zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die tDCS keinen relevanten zusätzlichen Nutzen, weder auf die Fähigkeit, neue motorische Fertigkeiten online zu verbessern noch diese offline zu konsolidieren, hatte. Ziel zukünftiger Forschung sollte es sein, den zugrunde liegenden Mechanismus des fehlenden Ansprechens bei PMS auf tDCS genauer zu untersuchen, um so die Möglichkeit für die nächsten Schritte in Richtung neuer therapeutischer Optionen zu schaffen.

Bien que le sommeil soit essentiel à la santé et au bien-être, les jeunes adultes parviennent rarement à rencontrer les recommandations de sommeil. Le sommeil est particulièrement important pour les athlètes et les étudiants-athlètes dans leur quête de réussite scolaire et de performance sportive. En plus, il est aussi essentiel à la consolidation, qui favorise l’apprentissage de nouveaux gestes techniques en permettant de transformer la nouvelle trace mnésique, initialement labile et sensible aux interférences, en un état plus stable et permanent. Cependant, il n’y a toujours pas de consensus sur les facteurs qui perturbent le sommeil lors des entraînements et des compétitions sportives. Le but général de cette thèse était de mieux définir le lien entre le sommeil et la performance. Cette thèse avait donc comme premier objectif d’approfondir les connaissances sur l’effet du bien-être, de la charge d’entraînement et de la charge cognitive sur le sommeil des athlètes. Son second objectif était d’identifier les variables physiologiques, psychologiques et contextuelles qui affectent le sommeil lors de la nuit suivant un match. Finalement, le dernier objectif était d’évaluer l’effet de la consolidation sur une tâche de motricité globale qui présente les mêmes sous-composantes qu’un mouvement sportif. La première étude nous a permis de constater que, chez des athlètes professionnels, des niveaux élevés de bien-être (qui considère les sensations de douleur, la nutrition, le stress, et le repos) ont un effet positif sur la durée et la qualité du sommeil, tandis qu'une charge d’entraînement de haute intensité a un impact négatif sur la durée du sommeil. De plus, les matchs joués à l'extérieur et en soirée diminuent la quantité et la qualité du sommeil. Enfin, une intensité de travail élevée lors d’un match est associée à une diminution de la qualité du sommeil. La deuxième étude a mis en évidence l’importance de l’effet de la charge cognitive perçue sur le sommeil des étudiants-athlètes. Nos résultats montrent qu’une charge cognitive élevée a un impact négatif important sur le temps de sommeil total et la qualité du sommeil. De plus, la charge d’entraînement interne a des effets néfastes sur la qualité du sommeil. À la suite d’un match, nous avons constaté qu’une élévation de l’activation cognitive au moment du coucher diminue l'efficacité du sommeil et augmente la latence d'endormissement. Enfin, aucun effet n'a été trouvé entre les habiletés mentales et le sommeil suivant un match. La dernière étude, nous a fourni d’importantes informations à l’effet que certaines caractéristiques du mouvement ne bénéficient pas de l’amélioration hors-ligne i.e., une amélioration spontanée de la performance en l’absence de pratique supplémentaire. Ainsi, nos résultats montrent qu’un intervalle de consolidation de 24 heures, comparativement à une pause de 10 minutes, n'a pas entraîné une meilleure précision temporelle ou spatiale dans une tâche de motricité globale. Globalement, les résultats de cette thèse montrent que le suivi de la charge d’entraînement des athlètes est optimal s’il est combiné à des mesures de charge de travail interne. Concrètement, le suivi de la charge interne des athlètes devrait être priorisée afin de prévenir les problèmes de sommeil d’obtenir un portrait global de la situation de l’athlète. / Although sleep is essential for health and well-being, young adults rarely meet sleep recommendations. Sleep is especially important for athletes and student-athletes in their quest for academic success and athletic performance. In addition, it is also essential for consolidation, which promotes the learning of new skills transforming the new memory trace, initially labile and sensitive to interference, into a more stable and permanent state. However, there is still no consensus on the factors that disrupt sleep during sports training and competition. The primary goal of this thesis was to better define the relationship between sleep and performance. The first objective of this thesis was therefore to deepen the knowledge of the effect of well-being, training load and cognitive load on athletes' sleep. Its second objective was to identify the physiological, psychological, and contextual variables that affect sleep during the night following a match. Finally, the last objective was to evaluate the effect of consolidation on a gross motor task that has the same sub-components as a sport movement. In the first study, we found that, in professional athletes, high levels of well-being (pain, nutrition, stress, rest) have a positive effect on sleep duration and quality, whereas a high training load intensity has a negative impact on sleep duration. In addition, away and evening matches decrease sleep quantity and quality. Finally, high match load intensity during a match is associated with a decrease in sleep quality. The second study highlighted the importance of perceived cognitive load on student-athletes' sleep. Our results show that a high cognitive load has a significant negative impact on total sleep time and sleep quality. In addition, internal training load has adverse effects on sleep quality. Following a match, we found that elevated cognitive arousal at bedtime decreases sleep efficiency and increases sleep latency. Finally, no effect was found between mental skills and sleep following a match. The last study provided us with important information that some movement parameters do not benefit from off-line consolidation, i.e., a spontaneous improvement of performance in the absence of additional practice. Specifically, our results show that a 24-hour consolidation interval did not result in better temporal or spatial accuracy in a gross motor task than a 10-minute break. Overall, the results of this thesis show that the monitoring of athletes' training load is optimal if it is combined with internal workload measurements. In practical terms, the monitoring of the internal workload of athletes should be prioritized in order to prevent sleep problems and to obtain an overall picture of the athlete's situation.

Doctoral thesis assessing the effects of one-week of escitalopram administration on healthy humans during sequence motor learning training. Published in 3 research articles.

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder associated with an impairment in motor planning and programming. It is therefore a logical step to derive treatment of the disorder from the principles of motor learning. Principles of motor learning refer to relatively predictable benefits of certain practice conditions over others (e.g., random practice enhances learning compared to blocked practice). A number of studies have begun to examine principles of motor learning in treatment for AOS (e.g., Austermann Hula et al., 2008; Katz et al., 2010). The current project aims to continue the investigation of motor learning principles and its application to motor speech disorders. In particular, the primary goal of this study is to examine the role of feedback control in treatment for AOS. Two types of feedback control are typically distinguished: self-controlled feedback and clinician-controlled feedback (Chiviacowsky & Wulf, 2004; Chiviacowsky & Wulf, 2007; Janelle, Barba, Frehlich, Tennant, & Cauraugh, 1997; Wulf, 2007). A secondary goal is then to examine the efficacy of script training for AOS. Youmans et al. (2011) provided promising initial evidence supporting its efficacy for AOS, yet no studies have replicated these findings (Ballard et al., 2015). The results of this study suggest that self-controlled feedback is more efficacious in treating adults with AOS than clinician-controlled feedback. Greater improvements of performance for self-controlled feedback were noted especially in accuracy of productions. There was the potential to impact rate of speech as well. Findings across conditions (treated versus untreated scripts) also indicate that script training is an efficacious method of treating adults with AOS. / Public Health

The purpose of this study was to examine how a critical principle of motor learning, practice amount (high number of trials versus a low number of trials), affects speech motor learning in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). It also sought to contribute to the literature base regarding using an integral stimulation approach for these children. Currently, a limited evidence base exists for decision-making regarding practice amount in CAS treatment. Using a single-case experimental design with two participants, three target sets of utterances (High Amount, Low Amount, and Control) received different amounts of treatment. Outcomes were compared in terms of retention. Targets were scored regarding perceptual (prosodic and segmental) accuracy. Effect sizes were computed to quantify the extent of treatment effects. For both participants, results show some evidence suggesting a higher amount of practice is advantageous and leads to greater learning. A low amount of treatment did not show clear differences compared to not receiving any treatment. Caution should be taken when interpreting these findings due to its small sample size and modest effects. Results suggest that the integral stimulation approach may only be effective if provided with a significantly high amount of practice. Further research is needed to examine how the principles of motor learning and the integral stimulation approach should be sensibly and systematically applied to promote best outcomes for this population. / Communication Sciences