We've added some wonderful handouts and brochuresabout childhood apraxia of speech. Click here to have a look!
The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) The mission: To strengthen the support systems in the lives of children with apraxia, so that each child has their best opportunity to develop speech
A Parent's Guide To Psychological Assessment of Apraxic Children by Tim Sass Psychological testing of young children is geared toward assessing several domains including behavior, communication, cognitive, adaptive, and social-emotional functioning. Cognitive assessment tends to get the most attention from parents and teachers, perhaps because of their familiarity with IQ scores. However, a good assessment should do more than just provide an IQ score.
more... Children with Apraxia and Reading, Writing, and Spelling Difficulties by Joy Stackhouse, Ph.D. It is not the case that all children with a history of speech and language difficulties have associated literacy problems. However, school-age children whose speech difficulties persist beyond 5 years of age are most at risk for associated difficulties in reading, spelling and sometimes maths. Let us first consider the nature of persisting speech difficulties with reference to a simple psycholinguistic model of speech processing.
more... Considerations and Recommendations for an Appropriate School-based Speech Therapy Program by Donald A. Robin, Ph.D., BC-NCD The components of any speech-language treatment program will vary depending on the individual child. But there are a number of general guidelines that should help parents know if their child is getting appropriate services.
more... Emotions to Advocacy The Parent's Journey by Pamela Darr Wright, M.A., M.S.W. Parents of disabled children understand one crucial fact-that only by obtaining an appropriate education will my child have a real opportunity to lead a fulfilling, productive life.more... Friendships and Our Children by David and Faye Wetherow What steps can we take to invite and support real friendships for our sons and daughters who live with disabilities? We seem to see other children moving along in a sea of friendship, and we see our children struggling with isolation. The natural ebb and flow of play, enjoyment and affection seems out of reach, and we worry about the prospect of a life-long pattern of separateness. What can we do?
more... Giving the News How to Talk to Parents About the Apraxia Diagnosis by Sharon Gretz, M.Ed. The hardest requirement for many healthcare professionals that provide services to children is to deliver news to parents and caregivers that is perceived as "bad news." In this sense, speech-language pathology is no different than other health related professions. Caring individuals enter into helping professions and thus are usually sensitive to the feelings of the individuals whom they serve.
more... Graphomotor Skills Why Some Kids Hate To Write by Glenda Thorne, Ph.D. While a plethora of information exists in lay and professional literature about many of the common problems experienced by school age children, difficulty with handwriting is often overlooked and poorly understood. Students with graphomotor problems are frequently called "lazy", "unmotivated" and/or "oppositional" because they are reluctant to produce written work. Many times, these are the children who dislike school the most.
more... Intervention for Bilingual Children with CAS by Kathryn Kohnert, Ph.D., CCC, and Ruth Stoeckel, M.A., CCC-SLP Most bilingual children become extraordinarily skilled in speech and language, just as do most monolingual children. However, it is also clear that a small, yet significant subset of bilingual children will have chronic deficits in communication.
more... Key Factors in Appropriate Therapy Approach for Childhood Apraxia of Speech Shelley Velleman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP It's a dynamic disorder, and it's far more a disorder of combining elements than of producing the elements themselves. In other words, the main problem is in putting elements together "on line". The person may be able to make a certain consonant sound and a certain vowel sound, but the hard part is putting them together into a syllable.
more... Language Processing and Comprehension Issues and Children with CAS by Chris Dollaghan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Language processing refers to the mental operations by which we perceive, recognize, understand and remember sounds, words, and sentences. Because it happens "inside the head," language processing can't be seen directly instead, we have to test for processing problems.
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Apraxia-KIDSSM - the Internet's largest, most comprehensive and trusted website for information on childhood apraxia of speech (verbal dyspraxia, developmental apraxia of speech) and children's speech and language topics - including evaluation, speech therapy, research and other childhood communication topics. Invaluable for parents, speech language pathologists, teachers and all those who care about a child with apraxia.
This web site is a program of the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association, the national organization representing the needs and interests of children affected by apraxia of speech.
