Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) Resources
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a type of speech disorder which impacts a child’s ability to accurately articulate their sounds. CAS is caused by difficulty planning the motor movements involved in speaking. The child knows what they want to say, but their brain has trouble sending the message to their jaw, lips, and tongue about how and when to move. CAS is different than a phonological speech sound disorder, lisp, or other persistent speech sound errors. A qualified speech-language pathologist will assess your child to determine which type of speech sound disorder might be present.
What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?
What Makes Speech Therapy Different for Children with Apraxia?
Key Factors in Appropriate Therapy Approaches for CAS
Apraxia Kids is an organization which provides education and support to parents, speech-language pathologists, and children with apraxia. The Apraxia Kids website has helpful articles, educational videos, support groups, a blog, and more!
Helpful Articles from Apraxia Kids
Jordan Christian LeVan is an author who has apraxia of speech. He writes children’s books about his lived experiences. He has written 2 validating and empowering children’s books:
Children’s Books About Apraxia
Autism Spectrum Resources
Meaningful Speech is an organization providing education and resources regarding gestalt language processing. I am trained in the meaningful speech course on gestalt language. Check out these blog posts if you’re curious about gestalt language:
How do You Know a Child is a Gestalt Language Processor?
Could My Non-Speaking or Minimally Speaking Child be a Gestalt Language Processor?
Autism Society San Diego is an organization which provides education, events, activities, and camps. Many of my clients enjoy attending their events. See their website for more information.
Neurodiversity is the view of autism, ADHD, and other disabilities are recognized as a natural difference in the brain. The term comes from joining the words “neurological” + “diversity”. Rather than using therapy to stop or mask autistic traits, neurodiversity-affirming speech therapy aims to help individuals in becoming effective communicators and self-advocates.
This video is a brief introduction to neurodiversity.
This video outlines neurodiversity in more detail.
Check out this blog explaining neurodiversity.
Educational & Academic Resources
Ms. Jones is the founder of Heartfluence Academy. I previously had the pleasure of working with Ms. Jones at a local elementary school. I've seen that she cares deeply about her students. Through Heartfluence, she works online with parents to find the individualized approach that will be most engaging for their child's learning.
Click here to get more information on Heartfluence and access the interest form.
Articulation Resources
Speech sound disorders affect the way someone articulates specific sounds. This may be one sound, like difficulty with “R”, a lisp, or include errors with multiple different sounds. Here at Leap Speech, we help you to determine whether this difficulty is caused by a phonological disorder, apraxia, a single sound articulation error, or something else. It’s important to accurately identify the cause of this difficulty so that we can use the effective treatment.
A recent article, “Children’s English Consonant Acquisition: A Review” was published by Mcleod & Crowe in 2020. This article analyzed 15 studies including 18,907 children to assess at what age each speech sound was used accurately. This article shook up the speech therapy world a bit, as these sounds were previously thought to be acquired at later ages. See the visual below for each sound.
*Letters indicate a sound which 90% of children accurately pronounced at that age. Each sunflower represents that entire year. For example, a child might be 3 years, 10 months when they acquire “y”. This would be considered age-appropriate since the “3” sunflower represents children ages 3;0 - 3;11 years old.
Looking for help with a specific sound? Peachie Speechie is a speech-language pathologist who has Youtube videos which provide instructions. This video teaches the two different ways the “R” sound can be made. This video teaches how to make the “L” sound.
Language Delay Resources
Children with delayed language are often called “late talkers.” Parents typically notice this delay when their child has a smaller vocabulary than their same-age peers. Children with language delays are frequently identified between 12 months and 24 months of age. Expressive vocabulary milestones can be found in this helpful chart. Early intervention is important for late talkers, as there are many strategies which can help increase their vocabulary early on. Refer to the below visual by Mrs. Speechie P., which includes the averages and milestones for expressive vocabulary at each age.
