What is Apraxia?

Apraxia is a neurological disorder often seen in children that affects the ability to produce and plan the movements of the mouth, face and sometimes the limbs. This disorder may affect language development and can be caused by a brain injury, stroke, progressive neurological disorder, genetic disorder, or a congenital neurological disorder.

Despite having healthy intellectual abilities and the willingness to communicate, some children with apraxia have difficulty forming words, making sounds, and stringing them together into a coherent sentence. It can also be difficult for them to understand language, including a request or command.

Apraxia occurs due to a disruption of communication between the brain and muscles. This means that the brain is not able to send the proper signals to direct movement despite the child’s willingness and motivation to do so correctly. As a result, the child’s speech can be unintelligible, disorganized, poorly articulated, and uncertain.

Symptoms of Apraxia

Apraxia is a motor speech disorder, which means that it is related to speech and language production. Those with the disorder cannot physically move their mouth and tongue to produce the right sounds in the right order. Some of the primary symptoms of apraxia include:

• Difficulty producing sounds (sound inventory is limited)
Difficulties producing syllables, words, and usually longer utterances.
• Highly distorted and or misarticulated/inarticulate sounds
• Prolonged or interrupted speech productions
• Difficulty sequencing and stringing multiple syllables and words to form a phrase or sentence
• Poor motor planning of speech (e.g., struggles to start speaking)
• Difficulty understanding certain words or vocal commands

Diagnosing and Treating Apraxia

If parents or caregivers are concerned about their child’s speech, they should consult with a speech-language pathologist. A trained practitioner may perform a variety of tests to assess a child’s speech development including analyzing the quality and consistency of their speech, listening to any voice patterns they are exhibiting, and watching their interactions with others.

The speech-language pathologist may diagnose apraxia of speech based on the results of the assessments and tests. Apraxia is treated with a variety of speech therapy techniques that use repeated practice of a specific task. The ultimate goal of treatment is to help the person become more aware of their mouth, tongue and vocal tract movements and to develop the skills needed to produce speech.

In addition to therapy, some individuals may benefit from speech-generating devices that can be used to help them remember words and phrases. These devices can also be used to help with spelling and writing, as well as expressing their ideas and needs.

Conclusion

Apraxia is a neurological disorder that affects the ability to control and plan the movement of the mouth, face and sometimes the limbs. Though it can be difficult, apraxia can be treated with specialized therapies and speech therapies that can help improve speech production. If you think your child may be affected by apraxia, talk to your physician or a speech language pathologist.