Use of the Prompts for Reestructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a case study.

Researchers tested a hands-on speech therapy method called PROMPT with one autistic person. The therapy involved touching the face and mouth to help improve speech sounds. After 16 weekly sessions, the person showed better control of their mouth movements and could speak more clearly with improved word pronunciation and easier-to-understand speech.

This case study examined the use of PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) intervention for speech improvement in an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The participant received 16 weekly sessions following evaluation using System Analysis Observation and Motor Speech Hierarchy protocols. Results demonstrated improvements across multiple domains including phonatory control, mandibular control, lip-facial control, lingual control, and sequenced movement. Speech outcomes showed enhanced word and phoneme accuracy, improved percentage of correct consonants (PCC-R), and increased intelligibility.

The study contributes to limited literature examining the intersection of autism and speech motor interventions.

PROMPT intervention shows promise for addressing speech motor difficulties in autism, with improvements across multiple control domains and speech intelligibility measures. However, larger controlled studies are needed to establish effectiveness and determine which autistic individuals may benefit most from this approach.

Single case study design limits generalizability. Sample size not clearly reported. No control group or comparison condition. Lacks long-term follow-up data. No information provided about participant characteristics or autism severity level.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is classified by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a neurodevelopmental disorder, whose characteristics are mainly deficits in social communication and a restricted range of interests. There are several studies about autism, speech, and language in the literature, but few correlate speech and autism. This study aims to carry out a case study that will address autism, speech, and PROMPT (Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) and also to describe the speech improvement in the participant with autism using the method. The target words were defined for the entire intervention according to the System Analysis Observation (SAO) and Motor Speech Hierarchy (MSH), which are parts of the PROMPT evaluation.

After the evaluation, the participant was attended for 16 sessions, once weekly, with the objective of improving their speech. After analyzing the data, it was possible to observe improvement in all aspects outlined according to the pre-treatment evaluation of the method such as phonatory control, mandibular control, lip-facial control and lingual control as well as in the sequenced movement although this was not the aim outlined in the evaluation. It was also possible to measure the improvement of an adequate number of words, an adequate number of phonemes, percentages of correct consonants - revised (PCC-R), and intelligibility.