May 14 is Apraxia Awareness Day!
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a rare but severe motor speech disorder that affects less than 1% of children. Children with apraxia have difficulty speaking clearly because their brains cannot plan and coordinate the movements of their lips, tongue and jaw.
Speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) are uniquely educated and trained to assess, identify and treat children with CAS. Children with apraxia can benefit from specialized, intensive speech therapy that helps them learn the movement patterns required for speech.
SAC has developed a poster and info sheet on the topic of CAS, as well as several webcasts as listed below.
SAC Webcasts (available to members and associates only)
- A Developmental Approach to Childhood Apraxia of Speech
- Recommends treatment procedures for children with CAS, taking into account the speech processes targeted and the learning mechanisms harnessed to meet a child’s specific needs along this developmental trajectory.
- Making a Difference: Management of Childhood Apraxia of Speech
- Provides a brief review of information about CAS, focusing on factors that make therapy effective and meaningful for these children with CAS. The purpose is to provide practical therapy ideas for immediate application.
- Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Using a Psycholinguistic Framework to Guide Treatment
- Provides a brief overview of a psycholinguistic framework for understanding speech perception and production. With this overview, participating S-LPs will be able to apply the framework to identifying treatment goals and adjusting treatment when working with children who have CAS.
- Practical Considerations for Treating CAS
- Discusses evidence-based practice for appropriate treatment for CAS and other speech sound disorders. Principles of motor learning and choosing appropriate targets based on the child’s current skills will be discussed.
- The Prevalence of Possible DCD in Children with Suspected CAS
- Explore whether children with suspected childhood apraxia of speech (sCAS) would have a greater chance of being identified as having possible developmental coordination disorder (pDCD) compared to children with DCD in the general population.