Table 1.
Apraxia intervention studies.
| References | Number of participants | Treatment duration | Type of action | Control | Intervention | Perceptual aspects of training | Improvements in experimental group | No effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental group | Control group | ||||||||
| van Heugten et al. (47) | 33 | 30 min for 12 weeks | Everyday activities | Strategy training | Observation of picture sequences Imagination | ADL Barthel Index Apraxia Test Motor functioning | |||
| Goldenberg and Hagmann (9) | 15 | 5 weeks | Three activities from the domains eating, dressing, and grooming | Direct training of the activity: errorless completion of the activity | The patients perform action immediately after observing the therapist's demonstration | 10 patients improved on all three trained activities | 6 months later, improvement is not maintained without practice | ||
| Smania et al. (45) | 6 | 7 | 35 sessions, three per week | Transitive action Intransitive action Imitation | Aphasia therapy | Gesture recognition Gesture execution | Observation of picture (context, object) Gesture recognition Imitation | Apraxia Test Gesture recognition | Verbal comprehension Oral apraxia |
| Donkervoort et al. (48) | 42 | 48 | 8 weeks | Everyday activities | Occupational therapy | Strategy training | Observation of picture sequences Imagination | ADL Barthel Index | Apraxia Test ADL untrained |
| Goldenberg et al. (46) | 6 | 4 weeks | Four everyday activities | Explorative training vs. Direct training of the activity | The patients perform action immediately after observing the therapist's demonstration | Direct training of activity reduced errors and amount of assistance | Exploration training had no effect on performance | ||
| Smania et al. (22) | 18 | 15 | 30 sessions, three per week | Transitive action Intransitive action Imitation | Aphasia therapy | Gesture recognition Gesture execution | Observation of picture (context, object) Gesture recognition Imitation | Apraxia Test Gesture recognition ADL | Verbal comprehension Oral apraxia |
| Geusgens et al. (50) | 56 | 57 | 25 sessions, 8 weeks | Action of daily living | Occupational therapy | Strategy training | Observation of picture sequences | ADL untrained | |
| Geusgens et al. (49) | 29 | 25 sessions, 8 weeks | Action of daily living | Strategy training | Observation of picture sequences | Apraxia Test ADL trained ADL untrained Barthel Index | Functional Motor Test | ||
| Bolognini et al. (51) | 6 | 6 | 3 sessions, 10 min | Limb gesture imitation | Sham stimulation | Anodal tDCS on the left parietal cortex | Imitation (observation + execution) | Imitation execution | tDCS on the motor cortex |