Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (or verbal dyspraxia) is when a child has difficulties in being able to make and co-ordinate the movements needed to produce speech that is clear and easy to understand.

Every child with verbal dyspraxia is unique, and each child’s symptoms will vary depending in the severity of the condition.
They may: 

• Struggle to pronounce words correctly (effortful speech)
• Be able to say a word correctly one minute, but not the next
• Have more difficulties with the beginning of words
• Have more problem with longer words than shorter words
• Be aware of their mistakes but often be unable to correct them
• Speak more slowly
• Be better at ‘automatic’ speech tasks such as counting and singing.
• Have a limited range of consonant and vowel sounds
• Some children may also have difficulty coordinating their mouths for eating, drinking and swallowing. For some children with verbal dyspraxia, they may benefit from additional visual 

Verbal dyspraxia can be diagnosed by a speech and language therapist alone, although often a paediatrician and/or an occupational therapist will be involved in reaching such a diagnosis.

We will look for certain features within a child’s speech, which may include a limited range of consonant and vowel speech sounds, the overuse of one sound, the inconsistent production and unusual error patterns and also the breakdown in sequencing sounds in words, particularly as the length of words increases.

A diagnosis can be quite complicated and following a diagnosis children with verbal dyspraxia will need to see a speech and language therapist for treatment and will need regular one to one direct therapy. The progress a child will make with intervention is also dependent on the severity of their dyspraxia is, whether they have any other difficulties, their age, and the amount of practise they do.