What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

In CAS, the brain struggles to develop plans for speech movement. With this disorder, the speech muscles aren't weak, but they don't perform normally because the brain has difficulty directing or coordinating the movements.

To speak correctly, your child's brain has to learn how to make plans that tell his or her speech muscles how to move the lips, jaw and tongue in ways that result in accurate sounds and words spoken with normal speed and rhythm.

CAS is often treated with speech therapy, in which children practice the correct way to say words, syllables and phrases with the help of a speech-language pathologist.

Definition & Descriptions of CAS

A young boy wearing glasses and a blue striped shirt, standing with his arms crossed and thinking. There are speech bubbles above his head with the words 'I LOVE YOU.' Surrounding the boy are several notes: one says 'Move those muscles!!' with an illustration of a brain and a red pathway, another asks 'What order? YOU LOVE,' and another asks 'What sounds?' with the letters V, O, E, and L. A blue box at the bottom explains 'Apraxia of Speech,' stating it involves the mouth, tongue, and muscles preventing clear sounds. There is also a logo for Golf Fore Apraxia.

Apraxia in Numbers

  • CAS was estimated to occur in 1 to 2 children per 1,000 (0.1%–0.2%; Shriberg et al., 1997)

  • It was estimated to be higher in male children than in female children with a 2–3:1 ratio (Hall, Jordan, & Robin, 1993; Lewis et al., 2004).

  • Children with CAS were reported to have a higher likelihood of concomitant language, reading, and/or spelling disorders (Lewis et al., 2004; Lewis & Ekelman, 2007).

Speech Therapy—focus on CAS as a language learning disorder; these approaches teach children how to make speech sounds and the rules for when speech sounds and sound sequences are used in a language.

Motor programming approaches—use motor learning principles, including the need for many repetitions of speech movements to help the child acquire skills to accurately, consistently, and automatically make sounds and sequences of sounds.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)—when there are concerns that oral communication is not adequate, AAC may also be used to provide functional communication while at the same time supporting and enhancing verbal speech production (Bornman, Alant, & Meiring, 2001; Cumley & Swanson, 1999; Yorkston, Beukelman, Strand, & Hakel, 2010). In addition to increasing communication success, AAC approaches may stimulate the development of language skills that cannot be practiced orally (Cumley & Swanson, 1999; Murray, McCabe, & Ballard, 2014).

Treatment

Illustration showing three categories: a woman doing speech therapy with a young child, a group of people participating in alternative communication activities, and a family holding a framed photo, labeled 'Speech Therapy,' 'Alternative Communication,' and 'Love & Support' respectively.
Official proclamation from the City of Barrie declaring May 14, 2022, as Apraxia Awareness Day, featuring the city seal, a city crest at the top center, and the mayor's signature.

We are spreading the word one step at a time.