IndexMethodologyResultsDiscussionConclusionNeural plasticity is the way the brain learns new behaviors and changes behaviorally and cognitively based on experience or pathology. There are 10 experience-dependent principles of neural plasticity that must be understood for recovery of both the damaged and intact brains to begin. Neural plasticity decreases the severity of a given injury and recovers loss of function. One part of the brain can compensate for other parts that have been damaged or lost due to pathology, also using compensatory strategies. The authors describe how learning is the best hope for changing and reshaping the damaged brain. The more we learn about new ideas and topics, the more neural connections will be created. Preston, Brick, and Landi conducted a study using ultrasound biofeedback as a treatment option for children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) that ties into many of these principles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Children with CAS have difficulty sending messages from the brain to the muscles in the mouth. Messages try to be sent, but don't arrive. They may also have some difficulty moving their lips or tongue into the correct position to pronounce certain sounds. These children know exactly what they want to say and have no cognitive problems. The difficulty lies in the brain trying to plan and program the muscles. Some deficits associated with this speech sound disorder are the inability to correctly produce speech sounds, stress, intonation, and coarticulatory transitions. The technique used in the article was ultrasound biofeedback. Biofeedback refers to giving individuals feedback on their performance through visual information. The authors used ultrasound based on feedback because it was a better financial option and was also easier to use with more clients. This study evaluated and determined how effective ultrasound biofeedback was for children with persistent speech sound errors related to CAS. Specificity, issues of repetition, issues of intensity, and transference were some of the principles of neural plasticity discussed by Kleim and Jones that apply to this ultrasound biofeedback treatment study. Specificity means that “the nature of the training experience in a certain modality will increase the ability to acquire behaviors in untrained modalities.” Repetition issues refer to the repetition of newly learned behaviors in order to ensure continuous neural change. This is crucial for rehabilitation and is necessary for the improvement of the damaged brain. Transference refers to plasticity in one area of ​​the brain that influences and improves the functioning of another untrained area. The final principle related to this treatment article is intensity. This means that if therapy and rehabilitation after brain injury include more vigorous simulation, then it will induce powerful long-term change. Methodology In the study by Preston et al., there were six children aged nine to 15 years with persistent CAS who were recommended to participate through local schools and clinics. To confirm the children's diagnoses, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) evaluated the children by administering the Goldman-Fristoe articulation test, capturing speech samples, and analyzing them. The speech therapist also ensured that the children scored below 85% on the subtest ofsequencing of the Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children (VMPAC). These children also had to show errors that could be resolved using tongue biofeedback. Eight different sound sequences were selected for each child and these were analyzed during the sessions. These sound sequences implied errors that the baby made on the lingual sounds since those were the sounds that could be seen using ultrasound biofeedback. At the end of each session, eight words connected to these sequences were analyzed (“eight target words x eight words per sequence = 64 words”). These words varied between monosyllabic and multisyllabic words. After the baseline pretreatment probes, only one target sequence was chosen to be used for treatment, while the other seven were not used. After several sessions, another target sequence was added. Once the child had achieved 80% accuracy with a given sequence on two probes, a new one was added and the previous one was discontinued. If the child showed no progress on a target sequence after six sessions, the goal was discontinued. There was a two-month follow-up after the end of the study in which these students were given the GFTA and a sentence imitation task. Treatment was provided by a speech-language pathologist or graduate student supervised by the first author. The sessions were twice a week for 60 minutes each and there were 18 of these sessions, which took 10 to 16 weeks to finish. Ultrasound biofeedback took approximately 30 minutes for each session. The use of ultrasound biofeedback is linked to the principle of neuroplastic specificity. The six children all had specific sounds that they were working on improving and maintaining. This treatment technique was specific to the target sounds and sequences each child was working on. The first 15 minutes were dedicated to a target sequence, then they would do a tabletop task, then another 15 minutes on a different sequence. There was a high amount of practice testing during each session. Across 24 sessions, there were 228 trials obtained using this biofeedback approach. 22 of the 24 sessions elicited at least 150 trials. This refers to the principle of neuroplasticity of repetition matters. These children were subjected to repeated performances of this certain skill which helped their brains change and learn new connections. This allowed the children to maintain their progress outside of the therapy room. This also ties into the intensity principle. There were 24 sessions lasting approximately 50 minutes each. It was a rather intensive therapeutic program which allowed these children to have a greater chance of making progress and maintaining it over time. Results The results of this study provided evidence that this therapeutic approach was very beneficial for this group of children. Each participant showed a significant increase of at least two standard deviations on the treated sound sequence. Because they had high repetitions of practice at an intense pace, their brains were able to change and learn new connections. The biofeedback technique facilitated improvements in language that led these participants to increase the precision of their sound sequences at the word level, while some even showed generalizations to untreated targets. This shows how important transference is. Some children were able to produce correct sound sequences that were not addressed with this approach. The ultrasound biofeedback technique focused on particular sounds and sequences and gave them a vision,.