Finding the Right Fit: Caregiver and Clinician Perspectives on Intensive Treatment Schedules for Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore caregiver and speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') perspectives of intensity schedules for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

METHOD: Participants included caregivers (n = 8) and SLPs (n = 4) of children aged 4-7 years (M = 5 years 3.5 months) from Australia (n = 6) or the United States (n = 6) who received Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC) therapy as part of a treatment study, scheduled as either 3 hr of therapy in a row (blocked schedule; n = 4) or three separate 1-hr sessions across the week (distributed schedule; n = 4). Participants engaged in semistructured interviews about their experience of the service delivery schedules and DTTC treatment. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Three main themes were generated: "A big undertaking," "Different strokes for different folks," and "DTTC was a serious deal." These reflected that intensive treatment required high levels of commitment from caregivers, children, and SLPs; that neither the blocked or distributed schedule was universally perceived to be more sustainable or appropriate than the other; and that both intensity schedules presented challenges, and neither schedule was collectively more acceptable.

CONCLUSIONS

Both blocked and distributed scheduling should be considered feasible approaches to the treatment of children with CAS. Child, family, clinician, and policy factors should be taken into account when making decisions about the most suitable intensive treatment schedule.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.32370477.