Individuals frequently use their hands to provide cues in the treatment of childhood apraxia of speech CAS and other speech sound disorders (SSDs). Yet, the use of such gestural cues is most often motivated by clinical experience and intuition, but not usually theoretically motivated or empirically studied. This presentation will focus specifically on the use of manual gesture cues that are spatiotemporally analogous to the target speech sound (i.e., manual mimicry cues) in the treatment of CAS. One example of a manual mimicry cue is releasing one’s fingers from a fist outward to mimic the spatiotemporal properties of /p/.

The aims of this presentation are three‐fold. First, a theoretical framework will be provided to support the use of gestural cues in the treatment of speech production objectives. The utility of gestural cues in addressing prosodic goals will also be considered. Second, descriptions, illustrations, and case examples of the use of manual mimicry cues for individuals with CAS will be presented. Lastly, preliminary data from a study of the effect of manual mimicry cues on the production of speech targets by children with CAS, as well data from ongoing studies of the coordination of speech and gestures in children and adults without SSDs will be discussed.