Results from Mask in Therapy Study
Summary for research participants: ‘The outcomes and impacts of wearing face masks during Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC) for CAS’
Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel, Elizabeth Murray, Shelley Velleman, Geraldine Bricker-Katz, and Donna Thomas
Why was the study conducted?
During the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and educational settings commonly required people to wear face masks to reduce virus transmission. Although the use of face masks has decreased, some people have certain risk factors (e.g., cancer, autoimmune disease) that require them to wear masks. In addition, there may be times in the future when masks will again be required to limit the spread of a contagious disease.
What did we want to know?
1. How well does DTTC work when masks are worn by clinicians and children?
2. What is the experience of SLPs and families when face masks are worn for DTTC therapy?
The Participants and Research Details
Four children with CAS, each aged 4 years, participated in the study. The children were each assigned to get 24 sessions of DTTC over 8 weeks from an SLP who worked in a community clinic. In total, four SLPs participated. The therapists and the children wore clear vinyl masks. The SLPs provided DTTC in a manner that was consistent with the previously published description of DTTC. After the treatment, a researcher interviewed each caregiver and SLP to ask about their experience of participating in the study, wearing face masks during therapy, and their perspective on teletherapy.
Results & Conclusions
Results:
Three children completed the treatment. Each child improved in their ability to say treated words, although to different extents. In addition, one child improved their production of words that were like their treatment targets, but that were not treated during the study. These initial results suggest that wearing masks does not prevent progress in DTTC treatment.
The therapists and caregivers said that wearing masks was mildly irritating but tolerable. They also reported that they preferred treatment with masks rather than teletherapy. The SLPs noted that research and clinical practice have different processes to improve children’s speech.
Conclusions:
Overall, the study showed that DTTC treatment is still possible and successful when masks are worn. It is a possible alternative to teletherapy for some families. It also suggested that ongoing efforts are required to decrease the perceived gap between research and clinical practice to ensure that research procedures are acceptable for use in community clinics. The research findings have been presented to SLPs at national and international conferences and will be published in peer reviewed journals.
Understanding Evidence-Based Treatment