Jennifer Furno

December 12, 2008

Professor Meyers

Intro to Speech

Apraxia

“Apraxia of speech is when a person has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently” (www.nidcd.nih.gov).

There are two types of Apraxia, acquired Apraxia of speech and developmental Apraxia of speech. Acquired Apraxia is also known as verbal Apraxia or dyspraxia in less severe cases. This can occur in people of all ages but is most common in adults. You can get acquired Apraxia when there is damage to the part of the brain that controls your speech. “Acquired Apraxia of speech can result from a stroke, head injury, tumor, or an illness that affects the brain. It may also be accompanied by weakness or paralysis of the muscles used to produce speech” (www.stronghealth.com).

Developmental Apraxia of speech occurs in children and they are usually born with it. When a child has developmental Apraxia it affects the child’s ability to say sounds, syllables, and words.

In developmental Apraxia, the brain fails to send the proper signals to the body parts that produce speech. Children with developmental Apraxia may know what they want to say, but the words don't come out right. That's because the mouth and jaw muscles don't receive the right instructions from the brain (www.stronghealth.com).

 The difference between acquired Apraxia and developmental Apraxia is that developmental Apraxia does not involve muscle weakness or paralysis.

According to ASHA, some symptoms a young child with Apraxia may experience are they may start to speak very late, they may only use certain consonants and vowel sounds, and they may have trouble eating. Signs of an older child with Apraxia are the child is hard to understand, has more difficulty saying longer words clearly than shorter ones, and the child can understand language more than he can speak. Other problems can be weakness of the jaw muscles, and they may have problems like word recall and word order. 

Speech language pathologists diagnose and treat developmental Apraxia. When diagnosing a patient for developmental Apraxia speech language pathologists look for some of the symptoms above. A big help in diagnosing Apraxia is canceling out muscle weaknesses and language comprehension problems. A speech language pathologist may ask a person to repeat a word several times or repeat a list of words which increase in length. With acquired Apraxia the speech language pathologist will look at how the person read’s, writes, and performs non speech movements.

Normally a child with Apraxia will need intensive therapy sessions about three to five times a week. Therapy sessions will focus on strengthening the oral muscles. “The focus of intervention for the child diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia is on improving the planning, sequencing, and coordination of muscle movements for speech” (www.asha.org). Apraxia is a disorder of speech coordination. If the disorder is very severe some children will be taught alternative ways of communication such as sign language. 

Works Cited

"Apraxia." Department of Speech Pathology. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.stronghealth.com/services/speechpathology/conditions/apraxia.cfm>.

"Apraxia of Speech." National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Nov. 2002. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/apraxia.htm>.

"Childhood Apraxia of Speech." American Speech Language Hearing Association. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/childhoodapraxia.htm>.