Active clinical trials for "Apraxias"

Neurodegenerative cerebellar ataxias represent a group of disabling disorders which currently lack effective therapies. Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique, which has been demonstrated to modulate cerebellar excitability and improve symptoms in patients with cerebellar ataxias. In this randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study followed by an open-label phase, the investigators will evaluate whether a repetition of two-weeks' treatment with cerebellar anodal tDCS and spinal cathodal tDCS, after a three months interval, may further outlast clinical improvement in patients with neurodegenerative cerebellar ataxia and can modulate cerebello-motor connectivity, at short and long term.

The objective of the clinical trial is to investigate whether weak transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can ameliorate the motor cognitive deficit apraxia during stroke rehabilitation. Stroke patients with apraxia will either receive a real stimulation or a sham stimulation (placebo) for 10 minutes at a time on 5 consecutive days during their in-patient stay in a rehabilitation center. Additionally, motor tasks are performed before and after the stimulation. The effect of the weak current stimulation on motor function is assessed 3-4 days after the last stimulation and 3 months after enrollment.

We propose a study on Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 1 (AOA1) in which Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficit has been observed. Main objectives of the study are : To monitor evolution of albumin in patients affected with AOA1 while supplemented with CoQ10 ; To measure with clinical scales and biological markers efficacy of supplementation on disease evolution. AOA1 is characterised by Hypoalbuminemia. Disease duration is negatively correlated with albumin level. This study aims to understand mechanisms of the disease and our hypothesis is that correction or stabilization of albumin level with CoQ10 supplementation could impact disease evolution. The study is planned from 1 to 2 years supplementation. The CoQ10 is classified as a food supplement and has already been tested in other neurological conditions.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of a mixed intervention of occupational therapy (rehabilitative and compensatory approach) at home to upper limb apraxia in mild and moderate patients post stroke in comparison to a control group with a traditional health educative protocol.

The study will test two modifications to speech therapy for 40 school-age children with childhood apraxia of speech to determine how to improve treatment outcomes. The study will compare treatment that includes real-time visual feedback of the tongue during speech using ultrasound vs traditional therapy that does not include ultrasound visual feedback. Additionally, some children will be treated with a traditional schedule of 2 sessions per week, whereas others will be provided with treatment that begins with intensive training (10 hours of therapy in one week) and progresses to a more distributed treatment schedule.

Limb apraxia is defined as the inability to correctly perform skilled and/or learned limb movements, which cannot be explained by elementary motor and sensory deficits or cognitive problems. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and the leading cause of disability in young adults. Apraxia and impaired manual dexterity are common problems in patients with MS leading to impaired activities of daily living. However, a specific training program to improve apraxia as well as manual dexterity in MS is lacking. In this study, the investigators want to evaluate the impact of a targeted occupational therapy program on apraxia and manual dexterity in patients with MS that have dexterity problems. Patients routinely seen in the investigators MS consulting hour, fulfilling all inclusion and exclusion criteria and willing to participate in the study will be evaluated for Apraxia and manual dexterity. In case of Apraxia and/or impaired manual dexterity, patients will be randomized 1:1 using sealed envelopes to receive occupational home therapy (experimental group) or general physical exercises (control group) for 4 weeks. At study entry and study end after 4 weeks, apraxia and manual dexterity will be tested in all patients.

The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on speech performance in individuals with primary progressive apraxia of speech.

The study is designed to determine whether there are clinical features that can be used as biomarkers to predict whether underlying Alzheimer's pathology is the cause of a speech and language based dementia. The primary hypothesis is that the proportion of patients who test positive for beta-amyloid deposition will vary across different speech and language based dementias.

Speech sound disorders (SSDs) is one type of communication problems in children. It is a board term describing different difficulties that impact speech intelligibility. There are different types of SSDs, including motor-based disorders (e.g., dysarthria and childhood apraxia of speech [CAS]), structurally based disorders (e.g., cleft-palate), syndrome/condition-related disorders (e.g., Down), sensory-based conditions (e.g., hearing loss), and idiopathic in nature. Among different types of SSDs in children, childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a type of motor speech disorders with symptom complex, and is always considered as severe SSDs if objective measurement of severity, percentage of consonant correct (PCC) is applied. Evidence of different intervention approaches of CAS and SSDs have been obtained from English-speaking children. This is unknown if these approaches can be applied to languages which are different from English in terms of the sound inventory and prosody. A treatment program for Cantonese-speaking children with childhood apraxia of speech was studied. Preliminary positive findings were obtained from two participants in an ABA single-case study. With the preliminary positive data, a higher level of evidence could be obtained from group study. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of the proposed intervention for children with severe SSDs by quasi-experimental design.

Impaired speech production is a major obstacle to full participation in life roles by stroke survivors with aphasia and apraxia of speech. The proposed study will demonstrate the short-term effects of auditory masking on speech disfluencies and identify individual factors that predict a positive response, enabling future work to develop auditory masking as a treatment adjuvant targeting long-term improvement in speech. Providing an additional treatment option for adults with aphasia and apraxia of speech will have the clear benefit of improving quality of life and allowing individuals to participate more actively in their health care decisions through improved communication.