| Apraxia of Speech |
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Apraxia of speech is a motor-speech programming disorder resulting in difficulty executing and/or coordinating (sequencing) the oral-motor movements necessary to produce and combine speech sounds (phonemes) to form syllables, words, phrases and sentences on voluntary (rather than only reflexive) control. Many children are able to hear words, and are able to understand what they mean, but they can’t change what they hear into the fine-motor skill of combining consonants and vowels to form words. This difficulty combining consonants and vowels into words upon direct imitation is called apraxia of speech. Many children do have “pop-outs” which are real words and phrases they are able to say or have said in the past, but are either never heard again, or cannot be imitated when asked to do so. Here at the KCC, we provide a systematic program that helps apraxic children be able to combine simple to complex consonants and vowels into a functional vocabulary. Parents, family and teachers are trained to script best word approximations toward functional vocabulary and language development. This is done through drill, conversation, and play, with cues, prompts, and support. Oral-motor weakness or dysarthria may co-exist but must not be a primary concern.
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