Sunday, 20 November 2011
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Apraxia of speech, also known as verbal apraxia or dyspraxia, is a speech disorder in which a child has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently.
Children with developmental apraxia of speech generally understand language much better than they are able to use words to express themselves.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder. For reasons not yet fully understood, children with apraxia of speech have great difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech. Apraxia of speech is sometimes called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal dyspraxia. No matter what name is used, the most important concept is the root word "praxis." Praxis means planned movement. To some degree or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of speech is a specific speech disorder.
The act of speech begins with an intention to communicate. Next, an idea forms, outlining what the speaker wants to say. The words for the desired message are put in the correct order, using the correct grammar. Each of the words are comprised of a specific sequence of sounds (also called phonemes)and syllables that must be ordered together. All of this information is translated from an idea and information about order of sounds into a series of highly coordinated motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate.
The brain must tell the muscles of these “articulators” the exact order and timing of movements so that the words in the message are properly articulated. Finally, the muscles must work properly with enough strength and muscle tone to perform the movements needed for speech.
In typically developing speech, children make word attempts and get feedback from others and from their own internal systems regarding how “well” the words they produced matched the ones that they wanted to produce. Children use this information the next time they attempt the words and essentially are able to “learn from experience.” Usually once syllables and words are spoken repeatedly, the speech motor act becomes automatic. Speech motor plans and programs are stored in the brain and can be accessed effortlessly when they are needed. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty in this aspect of speech. It is believed that children with CAS may not be able to form or access speech motor plans and programs or that these plans and programs are faulty for some reason.
Many therapists believe that sign language is beneficial for children who have difficulty being understood. They often recommend that children attempt to say the words they are signing to practice making the necessary movements with their mouths.
People with more extreme cases of acquired apraxia may also benefit from sign language. Or they may use assistive electronic devices, including computers that can be used to produce words and sentences.
Very few studies have been done to determine the relative effectiveness of various treatment approaches for childhood apraxia of speech.
Where can I get more Information about Childhood Apraxia of Speech?
Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA)
1151 Freeport Road, #243
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
E-mail helpdesk@apraxia-kids.org
Website: www.apraxia-kids.org
Birth Defect Research for Children, Inc. (BDRC)
930 Woodcock Road, Suite 225
Orlando, FL 32803
E-mail staff@birthdefects.org
Website: www.birthdefects.org
CHERAB Foundation
P.O. Box 8524
Port St. Lucie, FL 34952
E-mail help@cherab.org
Website: www.cherab.org
www.speechville.com{Editor's Note} I am sharing this post for the sole purpose of awareness. My son, who is almost 7, has been in speech therapy since he was 1 and has been diagnosed with speech apraxia. We thank his therapist all the for her wonderful work, encouragement, and ideas.
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Comments (7)
@armsraceofsound@xanga - no. Therapy is needed...children do not grow out of it
I'm sorry to hear that your son has a tough road ahead of him with this.
I have an online friend whose son (5) has this. Or had? I'm not sure anymore the severity of it. Turns out, he had an undiagnosed, slight cleft palate inside his mouth. A surgery corrected it & within a few weeks he was making huge strides in speech therapy & improving. I am so happy for her & her son. She cried when she was able to hear him talking.
Before the surgery he did have one of those assistant devices. I know he's still got some troubles with talking but he's much, much better from what I understand.
Two other online friends of mine have sons that they believe may have this.
I thank you for sharing this so that we all know what goes on & how this can affect children & families. Hoping for the best for your son.
I would like to know more about this. My brother has a very rare speech disorder in which he can not talk at all. When he was younger, a doctor diagnosed him with apraxia of speech, but we are pretty sure that is not what it is. He cannot talk at all and only uses sign language. He has perfect hearing, however. He is now 27 years old and does not have any kind of support group or even closure to what happened and why this happened to him.
From my understanding, children diagnosed with speech apraxia need intense therapy, especially with a therapist who specializes in apraxia. We have therapy once a week, for 30 minutes, and then because of our IEP, in-school therapy for 20-30 minutes a week. Every little bit helps, and it's important to carry-over and do activities and such at home.
After two children who were verbal and conversant at very early ages, it was a surprising challenge to adequately parent our 3rd child who didn't speak with any consonant sounds at all for his first 3 years. He understood language, was intelligent and a great observer, but just could not articulate words. Not any of them. Patience, prayer, consistent encouragement, zero belittlement, much love, and application of some speech therapy techniques yielded great results. We did not use sign language. Before age 5, persons other than parents could understand him. To this day you can see that the motor functions of his upper lip are different than most other people, but somehow he has developed his own way of making the sounds normally heard in our language. He is now an honors student, a freshman in college at the same time he is a junior in high school, tutors peers in math, participates in 3 sports, is captain of the swim team, and works enough jobs to have more ready cash in the bank than all the rest of the family put together. It seems that once he cleared that big hurdle at the beginning, nothing else could ever get in his way. Consistent love, patience, and prayer go a long way. Thank you to our Maker.
The only thing wrong with this post is that it was written a week too late. I was doing a research project for school on childhood communication delays and apraxia of speech was on my list. You shared a lot of good information.