What It Is

A child who has apraxia of speech often knows what they want to say, but they have trouble expressing it correctly or consistently. 

One of the major differences between an articulation disorder and childhood apraxia of speech is that a child with an articulation disorder will be consistent in their mispronunciations where a child with apraxia may say the same word incorrectly in several different ways. This is the most common of the apraxia of speech symptoms.

What You Should Know

The severity of verbal apraxia can range and it is one of the most frequent misdiagnoses I have seen in my career. 

Apraxia speech disorder is unfortunately often used as a “catch all” when the professional providing the diagnosis (who may or may not have been trained as an SLP) doesn’t have a clear idea what the issue could be. I see this a lot with apraxia with toddlers.

In these cases, I am often able to correctly diagnose the issue and provide more effective treatment.

My Approach

I take a research supported, structured approach to apraxia therapy. I target the syllable structure and begin with the sounds the child has mastered and build from that foundation. 

I’ll often first target functional vocabulary that will improve the child’s quality of life and ability to connect with others. 

I’m trained in PROMPT, which is a method of providing specific tactile cues (touching the mouth area) to help promote positive speech outcomes. Frequent data taking on the child’s intelligibility is critical for children with apraxia as repetition is key to treatment.

My favorite childhood apraxia of speech treatment activities involve custom board games, crafts, books and songs. I’ll use these to find ways to elicit dozens of repetitions of speech sounds to help the child master the motor patterns they need. This helps keep the child engaged rather than asking them to say a word repeatedly and monotonously for the 49th time!

If you are in Reston, Herndon, Chantilly or greater Northern Virginia and looking for childhood apraxia of speech therapy, give me a call.

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