Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder, meaning it affects a child’s ability to plan the movements needed to say sounds, syllables, and words. Children with CAS have normal muscle strength in their mouths (lips, tongue, palate, etc.), but they have trouble coordinating their muscles in the complex movement patterns needed for speech.
What Does Childhood Apraxia of Speech Look Like?
- Limited babbling as a baby
- Limited variety of consonant and vowel sounds
- Problems combining sounds
- Makes different mistakes each time a word is attempted
- Understands much more than he or she can say
- May appear to be “groping” for sounds
- Greater difficulty with longer words and sentences than shorter ones
- Does not have a typical “melody” of speech, sounding choppy or monotone.
- Difficult to understand May appear to be “groping” for sounds
- Greater difficulty with longer words and sentences than shorter ones
- Does not have a typical “melody” of speech, sounding choppy or monotone.
- Difficult to understand
Treatment
Although CAS is sometimes referred to as a developmental condition, children with CAS do not “grow out” of the disorder without intervention. They require lots of practice, both in therapy and at home, to learn the movement patterns needed to produce easy to understand, intelligible speech. Children with CAS often benefit from a multi-sensory approach to treatment, incorporating touch cues, visual cues (using mirrors or watching another person model the sound or word), and verbal feedback to learn to produce different sounds and combinations. When speech is particularly difficult, children may learn to use signs or other alternative forms of communication (such as pictures or a computer) to support their language development while continuing to work on spoken words. Providing as easier means for children to communicate often reduces their frustration and allows them to progress with their expressive language while waiting for their speech to catch up
Contact us at Small Talk for more information. 208-996-0552