As a leader in the industry, Orlando’s First Words Speech Therapy receives a lot of questions about Apraxia of Speech.

What is Apraxia of Speech? 

Children with Apraxia of Speech can have a difficult time speaking and communicating because it affects their capability to make sounds and put them together to form words.

Childhood apraxia of speech can be overwhelming for both the child and the parents. The issue is not with how your child thinks, but how their brain tells the muscles in their mouth to move. This includes movements of the jaw, tongue, palates, lips, vocal cords, and diaphragm.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) defines Apraxia of speech as ”neurologic speech disorder that reflects an impaired capacity to plan or program sensorimotor commands necessary for directing movements that result in phonetically and prosodically normal speech”

In order for speech to occur, messages need to go from your brain to your mouth. These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. When a child has apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through correctly. The child might not be able to move their lips or tongue in the right ways, even though their muscles are not weak. Sometimes, the child might not be able to say much at all.

Will my child outgrow apraxia of speech?

Apraxia of speech is not something your child will outgrow. With with early intervention from a speech therapist can help you child achieve clear verbal communications. By implementing strategies and sequenced muscle movement to improve coordination and motor planning.

This will help your child communicate more effectively and clearly. Early intervention is important because it significantly decreases long term issues and enables children to achieve age appropriate speech.

If your child is having difficulty with speech or communication, we encourage you to reach out to First Words Speech Therapy for an assessment by a Certified Speech Therapist.