The Effect of Motor Rest on the Stabilization of a Motor Speech Pattern

• Eliza Coull, Psychology,

• Francis Earle Sayako, Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Delaware

Research suggests that rest plays a crucial role in the memory processes associated with learning, and that the type of rest needed to see progress varies depending on the type of learning an individual is participating in. In this study, we selected children ages eight through ten struggling with rhotacism to undergo a period of motor rest alongside a period of speech-motor chaining therapy. Participants were randomly assigned to either a morning or afternoon therapy condition. In the morning therapy condition, which acted as the experimental condition, participants underwent a period of vocal rest before therapy. In the afternoon therapy condition, which acted as the control condition, participants experienced the period of vocal rest prior to therapy. We expect that participants in the morning therapy condition will experience more gains in speech production over the course of the week when compared to participants in the afternoon therapy condition. We also expect the disorder profile of participants to mediate their response to treatment. In specific, we expect participants with lower levels of phonological awareness to make less progress in comparison to participants with higher levels of phonological awareness. Future research should examine the differences in benefits produced by the resting effect as a result of both different applications of wakeful rest and different types of learning.