How can you help someone with Apraxia of Speech?
What is Apraxia of Speech?
Apraxia of Speech is a speech disorder where the signals from the brain (the motor speech programmer- MSP) doesn't connect to the muscles required for speech, such as the tongue, jaw, palate, lips and tongue.
This can result in difficulty producing speech sounds, words, sentences and syllables correctly.
Someone with apraxia of speech may be able to produce social phrases such as 'hello', 'thank you', and may be able to produce a word spontaneously, but if you ask them to repeat words, it is unlikely they will be able to produce them correctly. They'll move their mouth in attempt to produce the word, and will likely experience difficulty.
How can you help someone with apraxia of speech?
Use rhythm and focus on their strengths, for example, as social phrases are usually easier to produce, use hand tapping whilst saying 'how are you?' and encourage the person with apraxia of speech to repeat after you.
Use sentence/phrase completion, for example, 'you sit on a ....(chair).
Focus on errorless learning, for example, provide the person with apraxia with the answer if they are struggling. Provide cues such as writing words down for them to read out loud, say the word, and encourage them to WATCH YOUR MOUTH MOVEMENTS AND LISTEN.
How does someone get apraxia of speech?
Apraxia of Speech may occur following a stroke or traumatic brain injury
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Leeanne Mark
L A Mark Speech Therapy
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