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My friend thought she just had a very quiet baby. He did not make the typical baby sounds. Her doctor did not think much of it, and tried to pacify her with the thought that every baby is different and that she just had a calm baby. After he was a year old she was told it just had a speech delay and not to worry. This mom just felt "something" was wrong. It was not until he was over three years old and going to different doctors that he was diagnosed with apraxia. He was not saying simple words and when he did say words, they were unrecognizable, (such as mama came out, mmmm, mmmmm there was no sounds from the "a").

Before he was diagnosed with apraxia, he first went for speech therapy. It was the therapist who in working with this little boy who realized it was more than a speech delay, and suggested a diagnosis of apraxia. However, the speech therapy was what he did need, but just from a different angle once he was diagnosed. Because my friend's son did have an extended time catching on not only did they work on the speech, but also taught him sign language, building his motor skills and giving him a way to communicate much better.

Below are some signs of apraxia from a wonderful website that gives many insights and awareness: (www.apraxia-kids.org)

Difficulty in achieving and maintaining articulatory configurations
Presence of vowel distortions
Limited consonant and vowel repertoire
Use of simple syllable shapes
Difficulty completing a movement gesture for a phoneme easily produced in a simple context but not in a longer one.

This little boy I speak of is now ten years old, and you would hardly know that he had difficulty learning to speak. Some words he does say a little differently. It is as though he has an accent sometimes. He had what his parents said was "intense therapy", starting out with three to five times a week. Once he was of school age, he was able to continue speech therapy through his school for numerous years.

Each child is will develop and grow differently. If you suspect your child may have delayed speech, it is worth finding out if he or she may have apraxia. It is something that can be worked with and for many children, eventually overcome. The above website gives this hope:

No one can totally predict the child's ultimate success at becoming a verbal communicator. Thus, be wary if you are told that your child will never learn to speak or conversely that it won't be long until your child is speaking perfectly. The act of learning to speak clearly is typically long and challenging for children with apraxia of speech, but they can and do make great strides and much progress with speech therapy appropriate to their needs.

Learn more about this author, Loni Stel.
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