RECRUITING

Speech and Arm Combined Exergame

Study Overview

This clinical trial focuses on testing the efficacy of different digital interventions to promote re-engagement in cancer-related long-term follow-up care for adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of childhood cancer.

Description

The purpose of this study is to develop innovative home therapy games to train the weak arm and improve speech intelligibility (clarity) of children with hemiplegia from cerebral palsy. The investigators are exploring the effects of these therapy games and how they change the children's speech, hand movement, and brain activation. 15 children who are 8-17 years old will be recruited for this study. These children should have a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, mild to moderate speech issues but use speech as the primary mode of communication, mild to moderate movement difficulty and muscle spasticity, adequate hearing (pass a hearing screening), and be able to follow simple task-related directions. Children who have severe vision impairment that limits the child's ability to interact with the entire computer screen, have severe arm weakness so they cannot move their arm enough to interact with the computer games, have severe increase in tone in their weak arm, or have difficulty following instructions or paying attention to computer video games for at least 10 minutes cannot participate in this study. The therapy games will take 8 weeks to finish at home. Each child will play these games for 30 minutes each day, 5 days per week. In addition, children will come to the lab 4 times for speech and hand movement assessment: (1) 1st assessment takes place immediately before the child start to play the video games. (2) 2nd assessment takes place 4 weeks (midpoint) after the child starts to play the games. (3) 3rd assessment takes place immediately after the video games are finished. (4) 4th assessment takes place 6 weeks after the video games are finished. Each assessment should take about 2 hours to complete in the Rutgers movement lab or at Rutgers SLP Clinic. A total of 15 children will take part in this research study. The research will last for 2 years overall.

Official Title

Enhancing Rehabilitation Outcomes in Cerebral Palsy Through Gamified Multidisciplinary Interventions: Integrating Speech and Upper Extremity Motor Therapy

Quick Facts

Study Start:2025-02
Study Completion:2026-08
Study Type:Not specified
Phase:Not Applicable
Enrollment:Not specified
Status:RECRUITING

Study ID

NCT06817941

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Ages Eligible for Study:8 Years to 17 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:ALL
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:No
Standard Ages:CHILD
Inclusion CriteriaExclusion Criteria
  1. * (1) diagnosis of CP
  2. * (2) age between 8-17 years (i.e., pediatric age)
  3. * (3) use speech as the primary mode of communication
  4. * (4) mild to moderate dysarthria
  5. * (5) Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) level I to III
  6. * (6) Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I to IV
  7. * (7) mild to moderate muscle spasticity of the arm with a Modified Tardieu Scale of 0-3
  8. * (8) pass bilateral pure-tone hearing screening at 25 dB HL (at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz)
  9. * (9) able to follow simple task-related directions, including repeating short phrases.
  1. * (1) severe vision impairment that limits the child's ability to interact with the entire computer screen
  2. * (2) dyskinetic CP or spastic diplegia
  3. * (3) English is not their first or primary language.

Contacts and Locations

Study Contact

Young Hwa M Chang, PhD, CCC-SLP
CONTACT
617-959-4597
ym.chang@rutgers.edu
Qinyin Qiu, PhD
CONTACT
908-217-6290
qiuqi@shp.rutgers.edu

Principal Investigator

Young Hwa M Chang, PhD, CCC-SLP
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Rutgers University

Study Locations (Sites)

Rutgers School of Health Professions
Newark, New Jersey, 07101
United States

Collaborators and Investigators

Sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Young Hwa M Chang, PhD, CCC-SLP, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Rutgers University

Study Record Dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Registration Dates

Study Start Date2025-02
Study Completion Date2026-08

Study Record Updates

Study Start Date2025-02
Study Completion Date2026-08

Terms related to this study

Keywords Provided by Researchers

  • cerebral palsy
  • children
  • dysarthria
  • motor speech disorder
  • upper extremity
  • arm weakness
  • intervention
  • video games
  • fNIRS
  • neuroimaging
  • therapy
  • rehabilitation

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

  • Cerebral Palsy (CP)
  • Dysarthria