Childhood Apraxia of Speech

| Childhood Apraxia of Speech | | | | |

Disorder Overview
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is defined as a motor speech disorder. This disorder may also be referred to as verbal or speech dyspraxia. Children with this disorder find difficulty in planning and producing specific movements of the tongue, jaw, lips, and palates. The impairments caused by this disorder including the difficulty saying sounds, words, and syllables. The common symptoms of CAS include a delay of the onset of speech, restricted vowel, and sound inventory, and poor speech intelligibility. This condition is present from birth and can improve greatly or completely resolve itself with proper treatment. This condition is not fully understood. There are several schools of thought concerning the cause of this disorder. Some professionals believe that the nature of CAS is linguistic in nature, some believe it to be motoric, and still others believe it to be both linguistic and motoric in nature. The cause of this disorder is still being researched.
Emotional Development
No matter the cause of Childhood Apraxia of Speech, a child may experience several emotions while living with this disorder. CAS is a disorder that causes difficulty for a child to communicate. When a child can not easily express themselves verbally frustration may build. This frustration occurs because the child does cognitively know what they are trying to say but is unable to convey their thoughts, desires, and or needs easily. Normally when a parent, teacher, sibling, or friend can not understand what a child is saying they are asked to repeat themselves. A child can also become frustrated because of the continued request to repeat and the awareness that others do not understand them. Anger is another emotion that a child my struggle with due to this disorder. Many times anger forms in relationship to the heightened level of frustration due to the inability to communicate easily. It also can occur in other life experiences as the child enters into school and other group events. As the child becomes more aware of the differences between their self and others, confusion, frustration, and anger may occur.
Involving the child in age appropriate support groups can assist in the child’s emotional development. These support groups all for a child with CAS to express there feelings in a safe and productive place. In addition it allows a child to hear and see what others are experiencing, as well as hearing how they are dealing with there feelings. It also allows the child to interact with other children with similar conditions.
Social Development
When a child is unable to communicate with family and peers, their social development may be affected. This can occur for a number of reasons. One way a child’s social development can be affected is by isolation. Isolation can lead to a child feeling lonely and disconnected from others. In some instances, child may choose to isolate themselves from others. In some cases, children choose to isolate themselves as a form of protection. It is done to avoid bullying, stares, and other uncomfortable situations. In other cases, a child may be isolated by parents or other children. Parents may try to shield a child from hurtful or less than positive situations by keeping them away from other children that do not have a comparable speech disorder or delay. This is done with good intentions. Some parents feel as though they must be more protective of the child because they have CAS. In other situations, a child with CAS may be isolated by other children. When children without speech delays (sometimes referred to as a typical child), encounters a child with CAS, they may choose to avoid that child. This is done because of the lack of understanding of the disorder. When this occurs in a school or social setting the child with CAS is unable to connect and build meaningful relationships. Building healthy relationship with other peers is an important part of the social development of a child. There are ways to help with a child’s social development. One way is by a parent working with the child’s school district. Parent’s can request meetings with the child’s teacher, principal, and the school’s speech pathologist and psychologist. The parent is able to present all of stake holders with the child’s medical history as well as assessments. A specialized plan, often referred to as an IEP (individualized education plan), can be developed to assist in the child’s socialization at school. Decisions can be made on how and when it is beneficial for the child to be integrated with their peers. Other ways to assist with the social development of the child include the parent monitoring the child’s behavior and moods. The parent can report any changes or concerns to the child’s doctor and request intervention when necessary. In addition, involving the child in activities, such as sports, church activities, and/or other extracurricular activities, can also assist the child in developing socially.
Cognitive Development
Children with CAS have been found to have a higher risk for literacy issues. These children may also exhibit problems with language-learning education problems. Specific areas of difficulty or deficiency are reading, spelling, written expression, and phonological awareness. Poor oral and written language skills afford children with CAS fewer opportunities to engage in conversation with both peers and adults. Engaging in these conversations is essential in developing oral and written skills. The identification of cognitive skill problem areas is key to assisting a child with CAS. There are non-verbal assessments that can be administered that can help with the identification of any deficiencies. Once these results have been reviewed the child’s individualized education plan can be adjusted accordingly. The school speech pathologist can assist in the child’s cognitive development immensely. The child’s teacher and speech pathologist can work together to identify problem areas. The speech pathologist can suggest appropriate educational materials that can help with the child’s weakness areas.
Application of Information Learned
In learning about Childhood Apraxia of Speech, I have learned that intervention is extremely important. Children that receive early intervention can make tremendous gains towards effective communication. A child with CAS is more likely to reach their educational goals with this intervention. A child’s intervention and support team includes family, friends, school teachers, principal, speech pathologist, and medical professionals. By involving a child’s complete support team there is less chance that a child becomes isolated and develop cognitively, emotionally, and socially. I will be able to apply this knowledge as I enter into the medical field. I will be able to be more aware of the holistic needs of a child with CAS as well as other speech delays.

Work Cited 1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Childhood Apraxia of Speech http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/ChildhoodApraxia.htm

2. The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America
SLP Start Guide www.apraxia-kids.org 3. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/apraxia.html

Cited: 1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Childhood Apraxia of Speech http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/ChildhoodApraxia.htm 2. The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America SLP Start Guide www.apraxia-kids.org 3. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/apraxia.html