Apraxia Therapy

At the Goshen Speech and Hearing Center, we specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of speech and language disorders. Our goal is to improve patient speech development and communication with others. Apraxia is disorder caused by damage to the brain that affects a person’s ability to produce speech sounds and perform volitional movements. Apraxia can be either developmental or acquired. Developmental apraxia is present at birth and is also called Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Acquired apraxia occurs later in life, typically from injury to the brain. People with apraxia may experience difficulty performing tasks from the incoordination of required muscular movement. Speech-language pathologists can help patients with apraxia by creating treatment programs that target the improvement of planning, sequencing, and coordination of muscular movements.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that causes children to have difficulty producing sounds, syllables, and words. Children with CAS do not typically learn to produce speech sounds without treatment. Children receiving speech therapy for CAS make significant progress in overall speech intelligibility. Signs of apraxia can often be seen in children as young as 18 months old. Older children with apraxia may have difficulty saying long words or combining sounds, and typically speak in ways that are difficult for others to understand. Children with apraxia often comprehend language better than they can speak. To diagnose childhood apraxia of speech, an audiologist should perform a hearing evaluation to rule out hearing loss as a possible cause. A certified speech-language pathologist can evaluate and assess the child’s speech development and determine the specific speech disorder. The focus of intervention and therapy is to improve the planning, sequencing, and coordination of muscle movements for speech production. Tactile cues, visual cues, and auditory feedback help to improve muscle coordination and sequencing necessary for speech. Sign language may also be used to support speech or to bring the child to higher levels of language complexity more quickly. The speech therapists at the Goshen Speech and Hearing Center have the training and expertise to provide tailored services for each child’s particular challenges and strengths. We provide comprehensive evaluation, treatment, speech practice, and educational services to patients with a variety of articulation, speech, fluency, voice, feeding, and swallowing disorders. We pride ourselves on providing expert care based on the individual needs of our patients. Contact our office by calling (845) 294-0661 to schedule an appointment.