Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
Hi KRW1,
Thanks for your question. :) I'd like to start with some background information for those who may be reading this post who are new to this term. Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder where children have difficulties saying sounds, syllables and words. Although the child knows what he or she wants to say, the brain has difficulty planning the muscle movements necessary for speech (ASHA, 2013).
Research suggests that therapy for CAS should be frequent, intense, and include repetition of speech targets (Edeal & Gildersleeve-Neumann, 2011). As with all types of therapy, individual children's needs vary depending on their age, willingness to participate in therapy, attention, and overall language ability. It may be helpful to ask your current SLP about some of these factors and whether she believes the intense program may complement your son's current program.
One of our Speech-Language Pathologists has attended Nancy Kaufman's training program. We have her materials and use them on a regular basis. Another of our Speech-Language Pathologists and one of our Communicative Disorders Assistants recently attended Pam Marshalla's training program about CAS. Pam has developed a clinical approach which we also incorporate into our interventions. These speech therapy strategies, combined with language and communication development goals, enable children to develop communication competence. This in turn promotes their communication interaction skills.
We believe in supporting functional communication for children with CAS, which may include using speech, signs, applications on an iPad, or pictures to help the child convey his or her message. This is called a “total communication“ approach, where the child may say hello, use his iPad to ask “how are you?“ and share news from his week, and use the sign “help“ within the same session. CAS is quite complex, and many SLPs incorporate a variety of techniques into their therapy sessions rather than focus on one single kit or therapy tool (CASANA, 2013).
I hope this answers your question, KRW1, but please feel free to send me a private message if you'd like to know more!
For further reading, you may wish to look at the following sites and articles:
Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Family Start Guide | Apraxia Kids
Edeal, D.M. & Gildersleeve-Neumann, C.E. (2011). The Importance of Production Frequency in Therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20, 95-110.
Brittany Rickard, M.Sc. Reg. CASLPO
Speech-Language Pathologist
Rejuvenate Health Services | 2386 Main Street | London, Ontario | (519) 652-0740