Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a speech sound disorder. A child has difficulty making accurate movements when speaking. ASHA says, “A child with CAS knows what they want to say. The problem is not how the child thinks but how the brain tells the mouth muscles to move.” Speech therapy focuses on repetitive motor plan practice emphasizing speech movement patterns and not individual sound patterns. Benefits have been seen using multisensory cueing that include verbal cues that describe how the movement is made, visual cues that the child can watch and imitate in addition to tactile cues which provide direct tactile input for correct speech production. Tactile cues are a touch to the child’s face, neck, and jaw to facilitate correct production of the speech movement.
Call Lee DeCouteau CCC-SLP 503-654-4959