principles of motor learning week 10

what are motor learning principles?

• used in articulation therapy

• used in childhood apraxia of speech treatment

• involves selection of target speech sounds with instruction, proceeds through treatment continuum

• treatment focuses on placement and movement of the articulators in combo with auditory stimulus

Motor performance vs motor learning:

• Motor Performance (MP)

  • how the movement is performed during training

  • within the session

• Motor Learning (ML)

  • how the movement is performed at another time or in another setting

  • generalization

  • *better usually

two precursors to treatment:

• motivation

  • children must have the intent to improve movement

  • establish goals that are functional and relevant

• focused attention

  • draw child’s attention to movement

Mass practice vs distributed practice:

• Mass practice

  • practice a given number of trials in a small period of time

  • drilling, lots of practice

• Distributed practice

  • practice a given number of trials over longer periods of time

What leads to better MP?

• mass practice

  • negatively impacts ML

What leads to better ML?

• distributed practice

  • takes longer to become accurate

  • this is the best approach, better for long term

When choosing frequency and number of initial targets, consider these 3 things:

• severity of the motor speech disorder

• mass practice yields quick development of skill but poor generalization

• distributed takes longer but facilitates motor learning

Blocked vs random practice:

• blocked

  • different targets practiced in separate successive blocks of treatment phase

  • ex. do /ch/ until mastered, then move on to next sound

• random

  • different targets practiced intermixed

  • ex. practice /ch/ /th/ /sh/ all in same session

Which practice results in better ML?

• random

  • may take longer to become accurate

  • overall better

which practice results in better MP?

• blocked

  • negatively impacts ML

two types of feedback:

• intrinsic

  • sensory information within the learner

• extrinsic

  • generated outside the learner (from clinician)

two types of extrinsic feedback:

• knowledge of results

  • just feedback of right or wrong

  • facilitates ML

  • better overall

• knowledge of performance

  • specific info of what they did or what they should change

  • facilitates MP

We want to give extrinsic feedback early on, and back off as the client decreases the magnitude of errors. T/F

• T

• too much extrinsic feedback could lead to decreased ML

We want to use immediate feedback in early treatment when the impairment is severe as it improves MP, and then as the child improves we want to give less feedback to facilitate ML. T/F

• T

what is non speech oral motor training?

• treatment technique that does not require the client to produce a speech sound but it used to indirectly “influence” the development of speaking abilities

Toys used for NSOMes are proven to work. T/F

• F

• there is no evidence that they work

Pros of NSOMes:

• easily implemented

• increased muscle strength and range of motion

• kids like them

• commercially available

Cons of NSOMes:

• exercises alone do not translate to speech production

• lack of evidence to support use

• assessing and documenting gains

NSOMes are recommended for speech sound intervention. T/F

• F

• they aren’t

• must target speech if goal is to improve speech function