Speech Disorders Introduction and Definition

Speech Disorders

Introduction and Definition of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

According to Powell (2005), most of us take our capability to communicate for granted -- we think of something to say, open our mouths, and the words come out but even though it may appear to be an easy thing to do but the communication process is in fact really complex; and the difficulty of human communication happens to be particularly obvious when we consider about the range that is present among those for whom communication is difficult.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) defines CAS as a neurological childhood / pediatric speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech are impaired in the absence of neuromuscular deficits -- e.g., abnormal reflexes, abnormal tone, they added that CAS may occur as a result of known neurological impairment, in association with complex neurobehavioral disorders of known or unknown origin, or as an idiopathic neurogenic speech sound disorder (Childhood Apraxia of Speech, 2007).

What Causes Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Apraxia of speech is believed to be a neurogenic (neurologically based) speech motor disorder and most children with Apraxia of speech have no abnormalities as sensed by MRI scans; others may have definite damage to a part of the brain that may cause the problem; and there are children are born with such damage and other children obtain damage to the brain by accident or illness. For the last five years, there has been important awareness by researchers in the role that genetics may take part in childhood Apraxia of speech while there are some researchers who believed that it is probable that Apraxia was not obtained by any one factor and that there may be different subtypes of CAS based on the particular underlying cause Gretz (2005).

Characteristics of Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) can be found in children who have no indication of difficulty with strength or range of motion of the articulators, but are not capable to carry out speech movements for the reason that of motor planning and coordination problems; and this is not to be confused with phonological impairments in children with normal coordination of the articulators during speech (Apraxia, n. d.).

Gretz (2005) stated that a true developmental delay of speech is when the child is pursuing the "typical" path of childhood speech development, although at a pace slower than normal. Sometimes this rate corresponds with the cognitive skills and in standard speech/language development, the child's receptive and expressive skills are practically moving together; and what is generally seen in a child with Apraxia of speech is a significant disparity linking their receptive language abilities and expressive abilities. The child's ability to understand language (receptive ability) is broadly within normal limits, but his or her expressive speech is seriously lacking, not present, or severely indistinct and this is an significant aspect and one indicator that the child may be experiencing more than "delayed" speech and must be assessed for the presence of a specific speech disorder such as Apraxia; but certain language disorders may also cause a similar pattern in a child. -- a gap between a child's expressive and receptive language ability is insufficient to diagnose Apraxia (Gretz, 2005).

Tips for Teaching or Working with a Child that has Childhood Apraxia of Speech

According to Gretz (2005), research into effective methods for providing treatment to children with Apraxia is inadequate but in the professional literature a variety of techniques illustrated, including PROMPT method, Integral Stimulation, Adapted Cueing, Touch Cue, Melodic Intonation Therapy, Rate Control Therapy, etc., even though these therapeutic methods varies to some extent, they have shared characteristics that consists of principles of motor learning such as a high degree of practice and repetition, correction and feedback, slowed rate, and a focus on targeted motor placement and productions; heightened sensory input for control of the movement sequences and sensory cueing such as visual, tactile, and kinaesthetic cueing; touch cueing; verbal cueing; use of rhythm and melody; and focus on speech movements vs. individual sounds.