Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria
BackgroundThere is a lack of valid measures for the differential diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) worldwide, especially ones that are suitable for young children. With newly developed assessments, one key question is their feasibility in a community clinical setting.AimThe aim of this...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1470869/full |
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| author | Gertraud Erlacher Gertraud Erlacher Shelley L. Velleman Daniel Holzinger Daniel Holzinger |
| author_facet | Gertraud Erlacher Gertraud Erlacher Shelley L. Velleman Daniel Holzinger Daniel Holzinger |
| author_sort | Gertraud Erlacher |
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| description | BackgroundThere is a lack of valid measures for the differential diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) worldwide, especially ones that are suitable for young children. With newly developed assessments, one key question is their feasibility in a community clinical setting.AimThe aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of a play-based tool to assess CAS, using the “Language-Neutral Assessment of Motor Speech” (LAMS) as an example, trialing it for the first time in a German-speaking region.MethodsThis exploratory study is conducted as a series of single case descriptions (N = 7) with monolingual German-speaking children. The feasibility aspects of practicality, acceptance, and adaptation are examined. The collected data are processed solely descriptively with additional qualitative observations.ResultsThe practicality of a complete administration of the LAMS in a clinical setting is limited because it is time-consuming; however, acceptance by children and caregivers is high for most parts of the test. Adaptations to economize the time investment (primarily by omitting video analysis) seem possible without a significant reduction of quality.Conclusions and clinical implicationsImplementation of a flexible, playful assessment, such as the LAMS, in local clinical settings looks promising. In German-speaking countries, a German adaptation of the LAMS could fill a gap in the assessment of motor speech disorders in young, hard-to-test children. More data regarding reliability and validity are needed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-17eabf31df6e4452987fb778f7d752f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2297-900X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Communication |
| spelling | doaj-art-17eabf31df6e4452987fb778f7d752f02025-08-20T03:50:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Communication2297-900X2025-07-011010.3389/fcomm.2025.14708691470869Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in AustriaGertraud Erlacher0Gertraud Erlacher1Shelley L. Velleman2Daniel Holzinger3Daniel Holzinger4Clinical Research Institute for Developmental Medicine, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, AustriaInstitute of Neurology of Senses and Language, Hospital of St. John of God, Linz, AustriaDepartment of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United StatesClinical Research Institute for Developmental Medicine, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, AustriaInstitute of Neurology of Senses and Language, Hospital of St. John of God, Linz, AustriaBackgroundThere is a lack of valid measures for the differential diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) worldwide, especially ones that are suitable for young children. With newly developed assessments, one key question is their feasibility in a community clinical setting.AimThe aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of a play-based tool to assess CAS, using the “Language-Neutral Assessment of Motor Speech” (LAMS) as an example, trialing it for the first time in a German-speaking region.MethodsThis exploratory study is conducted as a series of single case descriptions (N = 7) with monolingual German-speaking children. The feasibility aspects of practicality, acceptance, and adaptation are examined. The collected data are processed solely descriptively with additional qualitative observations.ResultsThe practicality of a complete administration of the LAMS in a clinical setting is limited because it is time-consuming; however, acceptance by children and caregivers is high for most parts of the test. Adaptations to economize the time investment (primarily by omitting video analysis) seem possible without a significant reduction of quality.Conclusions and clinical implicationsImplementation of a flexible, playful assessment, such as the LAMS, in local clinical settings looks promising. In German-speaking countries, a German adaptation of the LAMS could fill a gap in the assessment of motor speech disorders in young, hard-to-test children. More data regarding reliability and validity are needed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1470869/fullchildhood apraxia of speechfeasibilitymotor speechdiagnosisLAMSassessment |
| spellingShingle | Gertraud Erlacher Gertraud Erlacher Shelley L. Velleman Daniel Holzinger Daniel Holzinger Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria Frontiers in Communication childhood apraxia of speech feasibility motor speech diagnosis LAMS assessment |
| title | Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria |
| title_full | Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria |
| title_fullStr | Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria |
| title_short | Clinical feasibility of a play-based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in Austria |
| title_sort | clinical feasibility of a play based assessment of motor speech disorders in young children in austria |
| topic | childhood apraxia of speech feasibility motor speech diagnosis LAMS assessment |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1470869/full |
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