Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words (asha.org). If you have concerns as to whether your child may have CAS, consult a Speech Language Pathologist for an evaluation and see if speech therapy would benefit your child.
A child with Childhood Apraxia of Speech may:
- Have difficulty moving mouth for activities not related to speech, for example: blowing, chewing, or sucking
- Pronounce a word differently each time they say it
- Grope/search for sounds when talking
- Use a limited number of consonants
- Have difficulty imitating sounds
- Imitated speech is more clear than spontaneous speech
- Mix up an order of sounds in words
- Have speech that sounds choppy or monotonous
- May stress incorrect syllables
Sources:
Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/ChildhoodApraxia/
Alli K, Speech Therapy Team