DIAGNOSIS OF APRAXIA

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) – 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,” noting that “the core impairment in planning and/or programming spatiotemporal parameters of movement sequences results in errors in speech sound production and prosody” (ASHA, 2007a, p. 1).  There is normal muscle function in individuals with AOS.

There are two main types of speech apraxia: acquired apraxia of speech and developmental apraxia of speech. Acquired apraxia is caused by damage to the parts of the brain that are involved in speaking, and involves the loss or impairment of existing speech abilities. The disorder may result from a stroke, head injury, tumor, or other illness affecting the brain. Acquired apraxia of speech may co-occur dysarthria or aphasia.

CAS occurs in children and is present from birth. It appears to affect more boys than girls. This speech disorder is also called developmental verbal apraxia, developmental verbal dyspraxia, articulatory apraxia, and developmental apraxia of speech.   The term developmental may be confusing for insurance companies.  However, the term is used to differentiate the disorder from acquired apraxia of speech.

The cause or causes of DAS are not yet known.

ASHA identifies three features that differentiate CAS from other speech sound disorders (ASHA, 2007a, p. 2):
Inconsistent errors on consonants and vowels in repeated productions of syllables and word
Lengthened coarticulatory transitions between sounds and syllables
Inappropriate prosody, especially in the realization of lexical or phrasal stress

Strand (2003) argues that there are five key potential diagnostic characteristics of apraxia in young children. The five characteristics identified by Strand are:

1. Difficulty in achieving and maintaining articulatory configurations
2. Presence of vowel distortions
3. Limited consonant and vowel repertoire
4. Use of simple syllable shapes
5. Difficulty completing a movement gesture for a phoneme easily produced in a simple context but not in a longer one

See apraxia treatment for information on the treatment of apraxia.

Related posts:

1. Apraxia Treatment
2. Articulation

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