Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Childhood apraxia of speech is a disorder of the nervous system that affects the ability to sequence and say sounds, syllables, and words. It is not due to muscular weakness or paralysis. The problem is in the brain's planning to move the body parts needed for speech (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue). The child knows what he or she wants to say, but the brain is not sending the correct instructions to move the body parts of speech the way they need to be moved.
Signs of Childhood Apraxia of Speech
In Very Young Children
The child:
1. does not coo or babble as an infant
2. produces first words after some delay, but these words are missing sounds
3. produces only a few different consonant sounds
4. is unsuccessful at combining sounds
5. simplifies words by replacing difficult sounds with easier ones or by deleting difficult sounds (Although all children do this, the child with developmental apraxia of speech does so more often).
6. may have feeding problems.
In Older Children
The child:
1. makes inconsistent sound errors that are not the result of immaturity
2. can understand language much better than he or she can produce it
3. has difficulty imitating speech
4. may appear to be groping when attempting to produce sounds or to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw for purposeful movement
5. has more difficulty saying longer phrases than shorter ones
6. appears to be worse when he or she is anxious
7. is hard for listeners to understand.
Some children may have other problems as well. These problems can include weakness of the lips, jaw, or tongue; delayed language development; other expressive language problems; difficulties with fine motor movement; and problems with oral-sensory perception (identifying an object in the mouth through the sense of touch).

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