Content
Apraxia of speech is characterized by a speech disorder, in which the person has difficulty speaking, as he is unable to correctly articulate the muscles involved in speech. Although the person is able to reason correctly, he has difficulties to articulate the words, being able to drag some words and distort some sounds.
The causes of apraxia vary according to the type of apraxia, and can be genetic or occur as a result of brain damage at any stage of life.
Treatment is usually done with speech therapy sessions and exercise at home, which should be recommended by the speech therapist or speech therapist.
Types and causes of apraxia of speech
There are two types of apraxia of speech, classified according to the moment in which it appeared:
1. Apraxia of congenital speech
Apraxia of congenital speech is present at birth and is only detected in childhood, when children begin to learn to speak. It is still unclear what causes are at its origin, but it is thought that it may be related to genetic factors or associated with diseases such as autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, metabolic conditions or a neuromuscular disorder.
2. Apraxia of acquired speech
Acquired apraxia can occur at any stage of life, and can be caused by brain damage, due to an accident, infection, stroke, a brain tumor or due to a neurodegenerative disease.
What symptoms
Some of the most common symptoms caused by apraxia of speech are difficulty in speaking, due to the inability to correctly articulate the jaw, lips and tongue, which may include slurred speech, speech with a limited number of words, distortion of some sounds, and pauses between syllables or words.
In the case of children who are already born with this disorder, they may have a harder time saying some words, especially if they are very long. In addition, many of them have a delay in language development, which can manifest itself not in terms of the meaning and construction of phrases, but also in written language.
What is the diagnosis
In order to distinguish apraxia from speech from other diseases with similar symptoms, the doctor can make a diagnosis that consists of performing hearing tests, in order to understand if the difficulty in speaking is related to hearing problems, physical examination of the lips, jaw and tongue, to understand if there is any malformation that is the source of the problem, and speech assessment.
See other speech disorders that may have similar symptoms.
How the treatment is done
Treatment usually consists of speech therapy sessions, which are adapted to the severity of the person's apraxia. During these sessions, which should be frequent, the person must practice syllables, words and phrases, with the guidance of a therapist.
In addition, you should continue to practice at home, being able to perform some speech therapist exercises recommended by the therapist or speech therapist.
When speech apraxia is very severe, and does not improve with speech therapy, it may be necessary to adopt other methods of communication, such as sign language.
Created by: Tua Saúde Editorial Team
Bibliography>
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS. Apraxia of Speech. Available in: . Accessed on 07 Aug 2020
- AMERICAN-SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION. Acquired Apraxia of Speech. Available in: . Accessed on 07 Aug 2020
- SOUZA, Thaís Nobre Uchôa. Apraxia of acquired and developmental speech: similarities and differences. Rev Soc Bras Fonoaudiol .. Vol.12. 2.ed; 193-202, 2008
- BRAZILIAN ASSOCIATION OF APRAXY OF SPEECH IN CHILDHOOD. PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE AWARENESS OF SPEECH APRAXIS IN CHILDHOOD. 2019. Available at:. Accessed on 07 Aug 2020