WHAT IS THIS STUDY ABOUT:
Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston seek to understand how speech movements of young children with speech delays or disorders differ from kids with typical speech development, in order to improve assessment and treatment of childhood speech disorders.
Who is Eligible:
Preschoolers ages 3-5 who meet the following criteria:
1. Have a medical diagnosis of cerebral palsy
2. Have reduced speech intelligibility
3. Are able to repeat short sentences (at least 2-3 words in length)
4. Speak English as a primary language.
5. Have no reported hearing loss
6. Are within traveling distance of Boston, Massachusetts (Note: we will cover parking
costs for families to park in a campus garage or handicap accessible lot. We cannot reimburse families for other travel costs or lodging.)
What Will Happen If My Child participates?
We will ask the parent to complete questionnaires about their child’s medical history, any therapy services they receive, and their communication skills, place reflective markers to track their lips and jaw using 3D cameras, and then ask the child to produce a variety of syllables, words, and short sentences. We will videotape and make an audio recording of the entire study visit to review later and make some measurements of the child’s speech and summarize these results for the parent.
We also hope that these results from this study will contribute to a better understanding of speech disorders in kids, and potentially lead to improved assessment and intervention for children with speech impairment in the future.
This study involves a one-time visit to our lab on Northeastern’s campus, lasting about 2 hours.
Compensation:
Participation in this study is free. Additionally:
- Families will receive free parking
- $20 Amazon gift card
- The child will be able to choose a small prize.
In addition, parents will receive a written visit summary after their child’s session that includes a description of their child’s performance on standardized testing and speech tasks completed during the session. Visit summaries will be emailed to parents approximately one week following their child’s completion of the study.
Learn More:
Visit our lab website to learn more about this research study.