Research Article Motor Speech Interventions for Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review Johanna Korkalainen, a Patricia McCabe, a Andy Smidt, a and Catherine Morgan b a The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia b Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute, Brain Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia ARTICLE INFO Article History: Received June 25, 2022 Revision received September 20, 2022 Accepted September 27, 2022 Editor-in-Chief: Cara E. Stepp Editor: Raymond D. Kent https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00375 ABSTRACT Purpose: Dysarthria is common among children with cerebral palsy (CP) and results in poor speech intelligibility and subsequently low communicative partici- pation. Neuroplasticity evidence suggests that adherence to principles of motor learning (PML) improves motor speech intervention outcomes. Motor speech interventions aim to improve speech intelligibility and ultimately facilitate partici- pation, but the effectiveness of these interventions and their inclusion of PML are not clear. Aims are as follows: (a) evaluate the effectiveness motor speech interventions in improving speech intelligibility; (b) summarize the aims, outcome measures, and outcomes relating to the International Classification of Function- ing and Disability Child and Youth; and (c) summarize the principles of motor learning used in the intervention. Method: Eight databases were searched, complemented by a hand search. Studies of any level of evidence were included if they used a motor speech intervention and measured speech in children with CP aged 0–18 years. Studies before 2000 or not in English were excluded. The review was conducted and reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study quality was rated using the Single Case Exper- imental Design Scale and Physiotherapy Evidence Database-P rating scales. The strength of evidence was evaluated with Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Results: Of 1,036 initial articles, 21 were included. Eight interventions were identified including 131 participants aged 3–18 years. All studies aimed to improve speech intelligibility or articulation and reported improvement at sound, word, or sentence level. One study reported improvements in communicative participation. The strength of evidence ranged from very low to moderate for one intervention. Adherence to PML was inconsistent. Conclusions: The quality of evidence is very low to moderate. More research on motor speech interventions that adhere to PML is required. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21817959 Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common childhood physical disability (Rosenbaum et al., 2007). Although CP is permanent and nonprogressive, the clinical presentation is heterogenous and changes over time (Rosenbaum et al., 2007). CP is classified by topography (the affected areas of the body), motor type, and functional severity (Australian Cerebral Palsy Registry Group, 2018; Sanger, 2015). The most prominent motor type is spastic CP that occurs in 85% of individuals with CP, followed by dyskinetic CP (7%), ataxia (4%), and hypotonia that occurs in 3% of indi- viduals (Sanger, 2015). Motor speech impairments are neurologically based speech difficulties that arise from interference in the motor planning, motor control, or motor execution of speech (Shriberg & Strand, 2018). They are common in children with CP, occurring in about 21% of people with CP, and in 32% of people with CP who are nonverbal, indicating a speech disorder so severe that the individual is not able to say any words (Nordberg et al., 2013). The most common Correspondence to Johanna Korkalainen: jkorkalainen@cerebralpalsy. org.au. Disclosure: The authors have declared that no competing finan- cial or nonfinancial interests existed at the time of publication. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research • Vol. 66 • 110–125 • January 2023 • Copyright © 2023 The Authors This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 110 Downloaded from: https://pubs.asha.org 54.91.30.93 on 01/14/2023, Terms of Use: https://pubs.asha.org/pubs/rights_and_permissions