Do you ever wonder what happens inside your mouth when you speak or swallow? While we all take for granted that we have the ability to speak (and swallow) A LOT of work happens behind the curtain. Our mouth (aka oral cavity) is where the sounds we hear are fine tuned using numerous muscles and other anatomy of the oral and nasal cavities.  For kiddos sometimes these muscles and articulators simply do not want to cooperate which is usually why adults are unable to understand them or why they have difficulty efficiently chewing and swallowing their food.  Speech-language pathologists evaluate the functioning of the mechanisms needed to produce intelligible (clear) speech sounds and ensure safe chewing/swallowing.  They also are highly trained to provide treatment when these mechanisms are not efficient.  Check out this video to see what our mouth looks like while we speak, sing, playing instruments, and swallow!   

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder.  CAS is a relatively uncommon disorder (1-2 children per 1,000= 0.1-0.2%) and one of the lesser known disorders treated by Speech-Language Pathologists.  There are some identified causes of CAS (e.g., stroke, trauma, chromosomal abnormalities) but we are not truly sure of all of the causes. 

In a nutshell:
The child knows what he/she wants to say and the brain sends the message to the mouth (lips, jaw, and tongue) for appropriate placement to produce sounds, but the mouth doesn't cooperate.

By: Laura Smith

I was a practicing speech-language pathologist for five years before my daughter was born. I worked primarily at the elementary and middle-school levels. I took professional development workshops on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and treated it successfully in three kiddos from my caseload. Perhaps that’s why I was bewildered, angry and utterly devastated when I missed those very signs in my own child.
I hadn’t yet worked in early intervention, so I missed what seem like obvious signs to me now that I specialize in the disorder. I urge all SLPs to learn more about CAS, because the disorder requires a specialized approach different from other commonly used treatments for speech and language delays.
In addition, ASHA denotes that the qualified professional to diagnose CAS is an SLP with specialized knowledge in motor learning theory and skills with differential diagnosis in childhood motor speech disorder, not a neurologist or other medical practitioner. It’s important to know the signs, but also to refer your client to a qualified SLP for differential diagnosis if you suspect childhood apraxia of speech.
Here are 10 early signs and symptoms of childhood apraxia of speech:

• Limited babbling, or variation within babbling
• Limited phonetic diversity
• Inconsistent errors
• Increased errors or difficulty with longer or more complex syllable and word shapes
• Omissions, particularly in word initial syllable shapes
• Vowel errors/distortions
• Excessive, equal stress
• Loss of previously produced words
• More difficulty with volitional versus automatic speech responses
• Predominant use of simple syllable shapes

Other non-speech “soft signs” that may be present include:

• Impaired volitional oral movements (oral apraxia)
  • Difficulty with volitional “smiling” “kissing” “puckering”
• Delays with fine/gross motor skills
• Feeding difficulties that include choking and/or poor manipulation of food
• General awkwardness or clumsiness

These are early signs, but many overlap with other phonologic and language delays, so it’s important to keep in mind that differential diagnosis is critical, as over-diagnosis of CAS remains problematic. It’s still a relatively rare disorder; however, there are resources that can help if you suspect it.
You can tap the below resources to learn more about childhood apraxia of speech.

• Apraxia-kids.org (CASANA):
  • Offers a growing library of on-demand webinars for professionals and parents.
  • Maintains a list of SLPs nationwide who are CASANA-recognized with advanced training and expertise and who are available for consult.
• ASHA.org:
  • Recently developed a practice portal for childhood apraxia of speech.
  • Compiled a comprehensive technical report.

Laura Smith, MA, CCC-SLP, is a school-based and private clinician in the Denver metro area specializing in childhood apraxia of speech. She’s CASANA-certified for advanced training and clinical expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech and often speaks at conferences and consults for school districts or other professionals.
Original blog: http://blog.asha.org/2015/04/09/10-early-signs-and-symptoms-for-childhood-apraxia-of-speech/

Halloween is a really fun time…for most kiddos. But for those having difficulty with communicating, trick-or-treating can be very difficult task and so stressful that some will exclude themselves from enjoying such an activity.  We truly believe that although we all may have differences these are simply that and we must find different ways to include all children that would like to participate.  One of our therapists came up with this simple craft you can do at home WITH your child to help give him/her a voice to be included in trick-or-treating. 

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder.  CAS is a relatively uncommon disorder (1-2 children per 1,000= 0.1-0.2%) and  one of the lesser known disorders treated by Speech-Language Pathologists.  There are some identified causes of CAS (e.g., stroke, trauma, chromosomal abnormalities) but we are not truly sure of all of the causes. 

While playing with playdoh can give optimal time to address receptive language, expressive language, pragmatic language, sensory, fine motor, gross motor, and handwriting development not all kiddos are able to safely play with it. Sometimes kiddos eat the playdoh or they are gluten sensitivity.  Well, we have the solution! Follow the recipe below for some EDIBLE GLUTEN FREE PLAYDOH!

Edible Gluten Free Playdoh Recipe
Ingredients:
-Baby rice cereal
-Vegetable oil
-Cornstarch(or gluten-free cornflour if you are in the UK or Australia)
-Unsweetened Applesauce (you can substitute water if you don't have applesauce)
-Food coloring (optional)