cues to facilitate the articulatory movements associated with individual phonemes, and eventually words. one study describes the use of electropalatography (epg) to treat a patient with severe acquired apraxia of speech. epg is a computer-based tool for assessment and treatment of speech motor issues. the program allows patients to see the placement of articulators during speech production thus aiding them in attempting to correct errors. originally after two years of speech therapy, the patient exhibited speech motor and production problems including problems with phonation, articulation, and resonance. this study showed that epg therapy gave the patient valuable visual feedback to clarify speech movements that had been difficult for the patient to complete when given only auditory feedback. while many studies are still exploring the various treatment methods, a few suggestions from asha for treating apraxia patients include the integration of objective treatment evidence, theoretical rationale, clinical knowledge and experience, and the needs and goals of the patient history and terminology the term apraxia was first defined by hugo karl liepmann in 1908 as the "inability to perform voluntary acts despite preserved muscle strength." in 1969, frederic l. darley coined the term "apraxia of speech", replacing liepmann's original term "apraxia of the glosso-labio-pharyngeal structures." paul broca had also identified this speech disorder in 1861, which he referred to as "aphemia": a disorder involving difficulty of articulation despite having intact language skills and muscular function. the disorder is currently referred to as "apraxia of speech", but was also formerly termed "verbal dyspraxia". the term apraxia comes from the greek root "praxis," meaning the performance of action or skilled movement. adding the prefix "a", meaning absence, or "dys", meaning abnormal or difficult, to the root "praxis", both function to imply speech difficulties related to movement. research many researchers are investigating the characteristics of apraxia of speech and the most effective treatment methods. below are a couple of the recent findings: sound production treatment: articulatory-kinematic treatments have the strongest evidence of their use in treating acquired apraxia of speech. these treatments use the facilitation of movement, positioning, timing, and articulators to improve speech production. sound production treatment (spt) is an articulatory-kinematic treatment that has received more research than many other methods. it combines modeling, repetition, minimal pair contrast, integral stimulation, articulatory placement cueing, and verbal feedback. it was developed to improve the articulation of targeted sounds in the mid-1990s. spt shows consistent improvement of trained sounds in trained and untrained words. the best results occur with eight to ten exemplars of the targeted sound to promote generalization to untrained exemplars of trained sounds. in addition, maintenance effects are the strongest with 1–2 months post-treatment with sounds that reached high accuracy during treatment. therefore, the termination of treatment should not be determined by performance criteria, and not by the number of sessions the client completes, in order to have the greatest long-term effects. while there are many parts of spt that should receive further investigation, it can be expected that it will improve the production of targeted sounds for speakers with apraxia of speech. repeated practice & rate/rhythm control treatments: julie wambaugh's research focuses on clinically applicable treatments for acquired apraxia of speech. she recently published an article examining the effects of repeated practice and rate/rhythm control on sound production accuracy. wambaugh and colleagues studied the effects of such treatment for 10 individuals with acquired apraxia of speech. the results indicate that repeated practice treatment results in significant improvements in articulation for most clients. in addition, rate/rhythm control helped some clients, but not others. thus, incorporating repeated practice treatment into therapy would likely help individuals with aos. nuffield dyspraxia programme-3 (ndp-3) and rapid syllable transition treatment (rest): a 2018 cochrane review found that when delivered intensively both the ndp-3 and rest may effect improvement in word accuracy in 4 - 12-year-old children with cas.