Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

Childhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder that makes it difficult for children to speak. It is characterized by difficulty planning and coordinating the movements of the articulators required for speech production.  CAS can occur as an idiopathic neurogenic speech sound disorder, as primary or secondary signs within complex neurobehavioral disorders, or in association with known neurological events.  

Signs and Symptoms:

  • Inconsistent errors 
  • Difficulty with sequencing sounds 
  • Schwa insertions between consonants or at the end of words 
  • Pausing in between sounds or words 
  • Vowel distortions or substitutions 
  • Groping movements 
  • Inappropriate prosody 

At One Speech Therapy, our licensed speech-language pathologists are trained to use dynamic assessments to differentially diagnose CAS and determine its severity and prognosis. Each treatment plan is tailored to the individual child. Some approaches used in treatment include tactile-kinesthetic methods (e.g., PROMPT) and motor programming approaches (e.g., DTTC). We also incorporate a core set of child-specific words and phrases to maximize functional communication. Our goal is to improve your child’s overall intelligibility and comprehensibility.