Developmental apraxia of speech in a child is a neurological disorder. It produces consistency of movements in a person’s speech. Neuromuscular deficits cause speech impairment.
It is also known as childhood apraxia of speech. It starts from birth which later affects children’s ability to form words. If your child has child apraxia than your child is not able to move his muscles which are used while speaking. The child knows what to say but cannot express due to the neurological disorder.
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Symptoms
If your child age is less than 3
- Does not pronounce the word in the same way.
- Delay in speaking of words.
- Problems in Putting the sound together.
- As an infant does not babble.
If your child age is more than 3
- Your child will have a problem in imitating words what others say.
- Difficult to understand what your child says.
- Difficulty in saying sentences.
- While speaking your child will move to his tongue jaws lips to say words.
- Cannot repeat the words in the same fashion.
Cause
Childhood apraxia is a kind of motor speech disorder. Child brain analyzes the word but cannot express through the mouth. CT scan or MRI of your child’s brain does not show the cause. In some cases, the child may have a neurological disorder. Brain damage to your child can be inherited disorder or syndrome.
Testing
- Check the weakness of lips, jaw or tongue of your child. It is known as dysarthria.
- The Specialist may tell your child to imitate action such as smiling, sticking the tongue and many more things.
- The specialist will test the sounds of vowels and consonants from your child.
- SLP will check the sounds of combined words, sentences.
- It checks how well others can comprehend the talk of your child
First of all the treatment plan of developmental apraxia of speech depends on the child’s strengths and also his ability to cope with the treatment plan. Therefore, there are various steps to cure the developmental apraxia of speech.
Steps to cure developmental apraxia of speech:
- Multi-sensory Cueing: There are various sensory cues which help kids in various activities such as hearing, sight, and understand. There are also various kinds of speech gestures that help in practicing words as well as phrases.
- Integral simulation: There are some predefined and structured speeches to imitate child. A speech therapist through speech therapy helps kids in their difficulty in producing words and phrases.
- Progressive approximation or Shaping technique: This technique helps in producing speech which a kid can easily understand.
- Phonetic placement techniques: In this technique, verbal information and also instructions are provided to the child.
- Tactile facilitation approach: This kind of approach helps in manipulating a person’s head, face, lips, and jaw to produce speech. With the help of articulation therapy, a child learns how to produce speech and sound correctly. There are also other speech therapies such as misarticulation therapy or phonation therapy which help children in their speech.
- Prosodic facilitation: It provides rhythm and melody to improve speech movements.
- Gestural cueing: In this the kind of method, in which the therapist uses hand cueing to represent shapes and movements.
Treatment
The type of treatment A child with CAS should work with an SLP. Research shows that your child will do better with therapy 3 to 5 times per week. As your child improves, your child may need treatment less time and again. As your child works to learn sounds and words, it is better to be seen alone. A group can be good when it works on using sentences to talk to others
Treatment Goals
The goal of treatment is to help your child say sounds, sentences, and words more clearly. Your child needs to learn how to plan the movements to tell the sounds. Then your child needs to learn how to make those movements right at the right time.
Other Ways to Communicate
Some children with apraxia have a tough time, whatever they say. Your child can be taught sign language or learn to use a picture board or computer that talks for it. It is called augmented and alternative communication. Some parents are fearful that their child would like to use these systems and will not try to talk. This is the reason that they are not used – the goal is to talk to your child. These systems will help your child because they learn to talk.
Family Support
CAS treatment takes time, and your child will need your support. By learning how your child learns with SLP, it will help your child to make progress. There may be times when you or your child becomes frustrated or upset. When your child is tired, take a break and do as much fun as you can. Tell your child’s SLP what is happening at home so that you can help your child succeed.
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