Our Experience With Apraxia of Speech

I met with Kara’s SLP last week to tell her that whatever she is doing, IT IS WORKING! Kara’s speech is blowing up at home even though she has apraxia of speech! I had tears in my eyes as I thanked her for working so hard with my baby girl.

Kara is my 3 year old that has Down syndrome & suspected apraxia of speech. She works very hard to achieve the smallest of milestones.

Apraxia of a speech is a motor planning disorder. Her brain knows what to say, but has trouble telling her mouth what to do.

I say that she has suspected apraxia because she doesn’t have an official diagnosis yet. It is hard to get a diagnosis at such a young age because of the lack of words.

Signs of Apraxia of Speech

However, there are lots of little things that point to apraxia of speech with Kara. For example:

Kara has trouble stringing sounds together. She can say “mm” & “oo” but she can’t say “moo”. She can say “puh” and “ah”, but she can’t say “pop”.

She regresses with some sounds. At 12 months old, she was saying “dada” and then suddenly couldn’t anymore. It didn’t come back until recently.

Kara also can’t change pitch in her voice. Her sounds are very monotone.

Another sign is that she has trouble stopping once she gets going. For example instead of “mama” she’ll say “mamamama…”.

She also has trouble with the loudness of her voice. She says things almost at a whisper. That is another sign.

Treatment for Apraxia of Speech

Therapy

Her therapists are great. I was told that a great SLP will provide the best possible treatment for that child no matter the diagnosis. Kara gets what she needs even though she doesn’t have an official apraxia diagnosis yet. In therapy she has surpassed the bilabial sounds (using your lips..think of the M, B, P, etc.). She is now working towards the D, N, T sounds.

PECS

Kara also has a PECS book that she uses to communicate at school. PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. It is basically a book full of pictures that she can point to to show what she wants. Eventually this may turn into using an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Device which is basically an electronic form.

Repetition

As far as treatment goes, I’ve learned that the biggest part of overcoming apraxia is REPETITION. Hardcore repetition. We have to train her brain and oral muscles to work together. We say the same words, phrases and sounds over & over.

Practice makes perfect, right?

Kara shows us that its true! She has been blowing up lately. She is saying more than ever before and I’m so proud! I hear more sounds, LOUDER sounds and consistent, unprompted cues & sounds.

Some example of words she says are “dah” for “done” and “psss” for “please”. She will also say “hah” for “hi” and can tell you “bah!” when leaving. These come out all on her own, without any modeling, which is a big deal.

We also encourage yelling in our house! The louder the sound the better! You’ll get the biggest & cheeriest welcome when walking into our home!

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Hearing that your child is struggling with apraxia of speech is scary. It was hard to find resources & others that would understand our situation. Turns out that although apraxia of speech is a condition that should be taken seriously, it is rather misunderstood.

Kara does communicate. She does a damn good job. The key is giving her multiple avenues to communicate through: sign language, visual cues, pictures, etc. I know that her skills and vocabulary will grow, in the meantime, we rejoice in every little inchstone!