The frequency of errors will increase the more complex the word or utterance.
counting, singing the alphabet, social greetings, etc.) and imitated speech will be less affected then spontaneous speech. Attempts at coordinating these body parts may appear “off target”.ĭifferent kinds of errors will occur on the same word when repeated over and over again.Īutomatic speech (i.e. This is a type of searching or struggling behavior that a child attempts with their tongue, lips, or lower jaw when they are trying to communicate. Though this symptom can be indicative of many other speech or language disorders, if your baby does not coo or babble, or if your toddler is considered a “late talker”, apraxia could be involved. The most common characteristics of apraxia include: Symptoms can also vary in their severity from mild to profound. Part of the confusion associated with the disorder is that not all children with apraxia will exhibit the same types of signs or symptoms. What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Apraxia?Īpraxia can be a perplexing disorder for parents due to its complexity. There are also instances when the cause of apraxia will be unknown and there will not be any apparent neurological indicators for why a child is exhibiting apraxia in speech.
Apraxia can also be a secondary characteristic of other conditions including some genetic disorders, degenerative disorders, metabolic disorders, and even seizure disorders however, not all children with these types of disorders will exhibit apraxia. These different terms can be found throughout the span of literature devoted to the subject, but for simplicity’s sake, I will simply refer to the disorder as “apraxia” for the remainder of this post.Īpraxia is most often caused by neurological damage due to infection, illness, injury, or trauma. Other labels include: dyspraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, developmental verbal apraxia, or verbal dyspraxia. It is important to note that apraxia can go by many other labels, including its more formal name-childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Apraxia is different from other motor speech disorders in that it is not caused by muscle weakness, a limited range of motion, or paralysis of any muscles.īelow, I have addressed some frequently asked questions that parents may have when faced with the possibility of apraxia. As a result of these struggles, children with apraxia can be difficult to understand.
Due to this neurological difference, children with apraxia struggle with sequencing and articulating sounds, syllables, and words when they are trying to communicate. Motor speech disorders are neurological in nature, meaning a child’s brain has difficulty coordinating the different body parts needed to produce speech-the tongue, lips, and lower jaw. You consult a speech language pathologist (“SLP”), who uses the term “apraxia” as a possible reason for your child’s speech difficulties-but what is apraxia?Īpraxia is a type of motor speech disorder that affects the way the body is able to produce speech. Your child seems to understand language, but expressively the sounds and syllables of their words seem to be off target. People unfamiliar with your child cannot understand him or her when they attempt to speak, and sometimes even you, as a parent, have trouble trying to make sense of your child’s attempts at communication.
For a moment I want you to imagine (though this may not be too far off from reality for some) that you are the parent of a young child whose speech is severely unintelligible.
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