Diagnosis for Zabi

OK - I have to admit that I have been begging for an answer to "what is causing my daughter to have so much difficulty in communicating?".  What I wasn't prepared to hear was that her speech pathologist finally came to the conclusion that Miss Zabi exhibits all the signs of what I suggested to the professional 1 1/2 years ago! D.U.H.!!!!  So now what?


What is childhood apraxia of speech?

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words. 

• Does not coo or babble as an infant
• First words are late, and they may be missing sounds 
• Only a few different consonant and vowel sounds
• Problems combining sounds; may show long pauses between sounds 
• Simplifies words by replacing difficult sounds with easier ones or by deleting difficult sounds (although all children do this, the child with apraxia of speech does so more often)

• Makes inconsistent sound errors that are not the result of immaturity
• Can understand language much better than he or she can talk
• Has difficulty imitating speech, but imitated speech is more clear than spontaneous speech 
• May appear to be groping when attempting to produce sounds or to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw for purposeful movement
• Has more difficulty saying longer words or phrases clearly than shorter ones
• Appears to have more difficulty when he or she is anxious
• Is hard to understand, especially for an unfamiliar listener
• Sounds choppy, monotonous, or stresses the wrong syllable or word 
• Delayed language development
• Other expressive language problems like word order confusions and word recall 
• Difficulties with fine motor movement/coordination
• Over sensitive (hypersensitive) or under sensitive (hyposensitive) in their mouths (e.g., may not like toothbrushing or crunchy foods, may not be able to identify an object in their mouth through touch)
• Children with CAS or other speech problems may have problems when learning to read, spell, and write
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• We don't know what our sweetie did or did not do as an infant, but at 4.8 years old, we do know that she said less than 10 words in her native language.