Report on the Impact of LSVT LOUD in Improving Communication of a Preschool Child and a Young Adult With Cerebral Palsy/Rapport clinique de l'impact du protocole LSVT LOUD pour ameliorer la communication d'un enfant d'age prescolaire et d'un jeune adulte ayant une paralysie cerebrale

• Published in: Canadian journal of speech-language pathology and audiology Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 125 - 140
• Main Authors: Fortin, Annie Joelle, Hamel, Alexandra, Asselin-Giguere, Frederique, Poulin, Simone, McFarland, David H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists 22.06.2023
• Subjects: Cerebral palsy; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Quebec
• ISSN: 1913-200X

This clinical report presents real-world clinical data on the use of Lee Silverman voice treatment (LSVT LOUD) to improve the communication of one preschooler and one young adult with cerebral palsy. Each client received LSVT LOUD per protocol with 16 individual 1-hour- long therapy sessions, four times per week over a period of 4 weeks. Standard LSVT LOUD acoustic measures that included average vocal intensity during sustained vowel phonations and sentence repetitions and maximum duration of sustained vowel phonations were collected pre- and posttreatment. LSVT LOUD and our own perceptual ratings were also used to assess treatment effects from the caregivers' (and teacher's) perspective on speech, voice, and communicative participation. Our clinical findings revealed significant posttreatment increases in average vocal intensity during sustained vowel phonations for both clients and during sentence repetitions for the preschooler. Follow-up data from the young-adult client collected 3 and 20 months posttreatment revealed gains in average vocal intensity that were maintained well beyond the end of treatment. Our clinical findings also revealed significant increases in maximum duration of sustained vowel phonation pre- to posttreatment for the preschooler only. For the young adult, significant differences were found between pretreatment and the 20-month follow-up data. Perceptual ratings revealed improvements in communicative effectiveness, participation, and speech (for both clients) and velopharyngeal function (for the young adult) posttreatment. Combined, these clinical findings demonstrated to us the potential of our clients to increase their communicative abilities to be heard and understood well beyond what we thought were their clinical boundaries.