What is the rationale for sequence-specific motor planning practice before sentence-level tasks in AOS therapy?

• A. To stabilize motor plans and reduce reliance on compensatory strategies before increasing linguistic load.
• B. To improve general cognitive skills
• C. To decrease overall therapy time
• D. To work on non-speech cognition

Answer: (C)

Sequencing and motor planning must be stabilized at simple, discrete units before moving to sentence-length tasks. Practicing planned movements at the phoneme or syllable level in specific sequences helps solidify the motor program so that, when longer, more linguistically demanding utterances are attempted, the plan is already reliable. This reduces the chance of errors caused by unstable planning and decreases the need for compensatory strategies, like unusual pacing or extra articulatory effort, during more complex speech. In other words, building a solid motor sequence first provides a stable foundation for smoother sentence-level production.

Options that focus on general cognitive skills, reducing overall therapy time, or non-speech cognition miss the primary goal, which is strengthening speech motor planning and sequencing before increasing linguistic load.