What is Apraxia? It is a disorder in which a person has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently.
What causes Apraxia? The cause or causes of Apraxia are not yet known. Some scientists believe that Apraxia is a disorder related to a child's overall language development. Others believe it is a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to send the proper signals to move the muscles involved in speech.
How is it treated? Children with developmental Apraxia of speech will not outgrow the problem on their own; speech-language therapy is often helpful for these children. In severe cases, people with developmental Apraxia of speech may need to use other ways to express themselves. These might include formal or informal sign language or a language notebook with pictures or written words that the person can show to other people. I read that many children with Apraxia of speech, even at young ages, have some awareness of their difficulty. I would completely agree with this statement. Izzie knows exactly what she wants to say and will try to say it and can hear and recognize that it came out wrong; then she gets extremely upset and frustrated.
Izzie attends therapy once a week and will increase to twice a week starting in September when she turns three years old. She is consistently saying 2-word phrases now and has recently begun saying 3-word sentences. However, many words are unrecognizable to outsiders and can only be understood in context or paired with sign language.
We have many more years of therapy ahead of us, but each day when she says a new sound or attempts a new word, it gives me hope that she will overcome Apraxia.
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