Speech disorders impacting children have debilitating impacts on educational, social and later employment outcomes. There are limited therapeutic options for children and families to improve speech like apraxia, and no pharmaceutical treatments are available. There is growing interest in repurposing safe and previously approved drugs for use in other indications like apraxia, with the aim of optimising brain neurochemistry for improved communication.

Scientists at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute are running a clinical trial testing the efficacy of methylphenidate (MPH), commonly known as Ritalin, on children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). They are investigating whether MPH can help improve language and speech symptoms of children with CAS aged 6-12 years.

Redenlab are providing their extensive experience in protocol design and running clinical trials to run this important world first study.

To find out more about this study, click here.

To watch a video describing the study, click here.