Apraxia of Speech: It’s Not a Common Speech Disorder

This is not very uncommon to notice that people finding it difficult to understand a young children when he attempts to speak something. His speech is such severely jumbled that it’s almost impossible to make any sense out of it, even for the parents. If you are a parent of such a kid and realize that your child is showing something similar, do not panic. Consult a speech therapist if you notice that your child understands the language but there’s a difficulty in expressing the syllables. You may hear a term “Apraxia of speech” from him as the reason behind this problem. So you ask him:

 

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 What is Apraxia of speech?

He tells you that Apraxia of speech is a disorder in which a person is unable to express his thoughts consistently through speech. It’s a type of motor disorder where the body is unable to produce speech.

Who can have Apraxia?

Generally there are two types of Apraxia of speech; an acquired and a developmental form. The acquired form can affect anyone at any age, mainly adults. It happens because of a damage caused in the part of the brain which is responsible for producing speech. The condition may occur due to stroke, nerve disorder, tumor, head injury or some other illnesses which often accompany weakness of facial muscles that produce the language.

The developmental form of Apraxia of speech mainly occurs in children from the birth. It’s different from developmental delay in acquiring language skills where the child learns to speak slower than the normal. It’s seen more in boys than girls but the real cause behind the disorder is completely unknown.

Image Courtesy: www.dyspraxia.info

 What’s the treatment?

In many cases the recovery is spontaneous, where the disorder resolves partially or completely on its own. Children with Developmental Apraxia of Speech do not recover spontaneously. Speech and language therapists are helpful for these children and also for people with Acquired Apraxia of Speech, as they employ different techniques to treat these disorders.