Speech Sound Disorders & Childhood Apraxia of Speech
There are many reasons why a child's speech may be difficult to understand, and accurate diagnosis of the underlying cause is critical for choosing a therapeutic approach that leads to change. After all, not all speech sound disorders are alike, and many children have spent years in therapy with little to no progress simply because their speech sound disorder was not correctly diagnosed. Children with apraxia, for instance, will make little progress if given a traditional articulation approach, while children with phonological disorders need a completely different therapeutic protocol to develop clear and understandable speech. If your child's speech sound disorder is not accurately assessed, they could spend years in speech therapy without much progress. What's more, speech sound disorders have a strong correlation with later reading difficulties, so accurate and timely treatment of speech sound difficulties can make a vast difference in a child's successful development of literacy skills.
Rachel has years of experience with all different types of speech sound disorders: articulation, phonology, childhood apraxia of speech, and dysarthria. She can accurately assess the underlying causes of your child's speech difficulty and recommend the treatment approach that will lead to meaningful change. This is especially important in the case of suspected childhood apraxia of speech, because understanding and effectively treating apraxia requires a clinician who is skilled in differential diagnosis and practiced in a motor planning approach.* Rachel has many current and past clients with apraxia who have experienced tremendous change due to her consistent, intensive approach** and depth of therapeutic knowledge when it comes this particular speech profile. If you suspect your child may have apraxia of speech - or are unsure of how to support their speech sound development - please schedule a free, twenty-minute consult to discuss!
*From the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association "Many of the behaviors and signs associated with CAS are also found in children with more broadly defined speech sound disorders (McCabe et al., 1998; Shriberg et al., 2017). In addition, it is important that the diagnosis of CAS not be based solely on the severity of a child's speech sound disorder, as this may result in overdiagnosis. Differentiating CAS from some types of dysarthria presents a significant challenge because these disorders can share several speech, prosody, and voice features (e.g., imprecise consonant, inconsistent pitch or loudness, inappropriate or aberrant stress patterns)."
**From apraxiakids.com: "Children who receive an apraxia of speech diagnosis should begin speech therapy with a speech-language pathologist (SLP), preferably one that has had previous experience and success in treating apraxia. Exactly how often the child should have speech therapy will vary according to the individual needs of each child. Children with CAS who have severely unclear or little speech and are more severely affected will require more therapy than those who have milder apraxia.