How might a clinician incorporate 'multimodal cues' in therapy for AOS?

• A. Use auditory, visual, and tactile cues—modeling, mouth movements, and touch cues
• B. Rely solely on auditory cues
• C. Use only passive observation
• D. Avoid modeling or prompts

Answer: (A)

Using multiple sensory cues engages the motor system more robustly by providing several pathways to learn the correct speech movements. In therapy for apraxia of speech, combining auditory, visual, and tactile information gives the learner different sources of guidance: hearing the target speech through modeling helps establish the correct sounds and rhythm, seeing precise mouth shapes and movements offers a visual map of how to place the articulators, and feeling the movements through gentle touch or proprioceptive cues helps lock in the timing and placement. This multimodal approach supports motor planning by reinforcing the same target from different angles, which can improve accuracy and help with generalization to new words and contexts. Relying only on auditory cues often isn’t enough because the difficulty lies in programming the sequence and coordination of movements, not just producing the right sound when heard. Passive observation or avoiding modeling removes essential support that learners need to imitate and practice the correct motor patterns.