Speech and Arm Combined Exergame for Cerebral Palsy

This study is testing computer-based therapy games designed to improve speech clarity and hand/arm movement in children with cerebral palsy (CP). There are three groups: one uses games for speech only, another for hand/arm movement only, and a third uses games that combine both. The games are played at home for 8 weeks. Researchers will measure changes in speech clarity and hand/arm movement, and look at brain activation. We are looking for 15 children, aged 8-17, who have CP, mild to moderate speech difficulties but use speech to communicate, and mild to moderate arm movement issues.

Study design
This interventional study plans to enroll 15 participants. It is testing three different behavioral interventions: Speech only, Hand/Arm only, and Speech and arm combined.
What's involved
Participants will use computer-based therapy games at home for 8 weeks. Speech loudness, mouth opening, and hand/arm movements will be recorded during game play.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Participants will be assessed at pre-treatment, mid-treatment (4 weeks), post-treatment (8 weeks), and for a 6-week retention period after treatment ends.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT06817941

Speech and Arm Combined Exergame

Recruiting
NAAges 8–17InterventionalTreatment
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
~15 participants
Updated 2026-06-12 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Speech onlyHand/Arm onlySpeech and arm combined

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Intelligibility measures
Measured over Pre-treatment (1-2 weeks before treatment), mid-treatment (4 weeks after treatment begins), post-treatment (immediately after treatment ends at 8 weeks), 6-week retention (6 weeks after treatment ends)
+1 more outcome measured
Cerebral Palsy (CP)
Dysarthria
1 sites across 1 states
New Jersey1
  • Young Hwa M Chang, PhD, CCC-SLP · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · Rutgers University

Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.

Do you actually qualify for this trial?

Add a private profile and we'll compare every criterion below against your situation — and tell you which ones are met, uncertain, or excluding.

Check eligibility for this trial ~2 min · HIPAA-protected · delete anytime
Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

(1) diagnosis of CP
(2) age between 8-17 years (i.e., pediatric age)
(3) use speech as the primary mode of communication
(4) mild to moderate dysarthria
(5) Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) level I to III
(6) Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I to IV
(7) mild to moderate muscle spasticity of the arm with a Modified Tardieu Scale of 0-3
(8) pass bilateral pure-tone hearing screening at 25 dB HL (at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz)
(9) able to follow simple task-related directions, including repeating short phrases.

Exclusion

(1) severe vision impairment that limits the child's ability to interact with the entire computer screen
(2) dyskinetic CP or spastic diplegia
(3) English is not their first or primary language.
  • Intelligibility measuresPre-treatment (1-2 weeks before treatment), mid-treatment (4 weeks after treatment begins), post-treatment (immediately after treatment ends at 8 weeks), 6-week retention (6 weeks after treatment ends)

    To assess the word and sentence intelligibility changes in the participating children with CP. Once the child participants' data are collected, adult listeners will come to the Rutgers SLP Clinic to assess speech changes in these children. Each listener will spend approximately 30 minutes to one hour listening to the children's speech (words and sentences) and type on a laptop what they heard. They will also indicate how easy or difficult the utterance was to understand using a visual analog scale on the laptop. The anchor points provided on the scale will be: difficult to understand (score = 0) to easy to understand (score = 100). Each listener will provide their rating by sliding a pointer on this scale between the two anchor points. The words and sentences that the listeners listen to are audio recordings collected during the child participants' four assessment sessions (pre-treatment, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and retention).

  • Melbourne Assessment 2Pre-treatment (1-2 weeks before treatment), mid-treatment (4 weeks after treatment begins), post-treatment (immediately after treatment ends at 8 weeks), 6-week retention (6 weeks after treatment ends)

    MA2 is a 14 item criterion-referenced test for evaluating four elements of upper limb movement quality in children with a neurological impairment