What will a speech therapist do for children with Apraxia?
Sharon: The overarching principles needed for speech therapy for children with CAS are called the principles of motor learning. In a nutshell, one applies those principles to speech motor learning and these appear to be what benefit the children, regardless of the particular “name” for the speech therapy method. The following variables are what is important: – Frequency and intensity of practice opportunities – Skilled motor activity is acquired through repetitive practice. The SLP needs to maximize the number of practice trials in each therapy session and those sessions need to be frequent. Incorporating parents as therapy extenders is also ideal so that the child is practicing throughout their day. Parents need mentored in order to understand how and when to elicit practice. Observation of therapy sessions by parents is key! This is how they will know when to try to elicit a speech production from their child, how to get multiple repetitions, and when to back off. They will know not
