Verbal dyspraxia is a type of speech disorder.
People with verbal dyspraxia have difficulty in placing the muscles in the correct position to produce speech properly.
The muscles have not been damaged although the messages sent from the brain tell the muscles what to do have been affected.
The signs of verbal dyspraxia include.
Difficulty making sounds.
Difficulty repeating sequences of sounds or words.
Making different mistakes when saying the same words.
Difficulty with intonation, such as speaking in a monotone voice.
Having a very limited vocabulary.
Speaking more slowly than fellow peers.
Children with verbal dyspraxia find it hard to produce individual speech sounds and to put sounds together in the right order in words. As a result, their speech is often hard to understand.
Children with verbal dyspraxia have speech that sounds unusual; they don't just sound like a younger child.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) are developmental disorders with distinct diagnostic criteria and different epidemiology.
However, a common genetic background as well as overlapping clinical features between ASD and CAS have been recently reported.
Verbal dyspraxia symptoms are usually noticed between ages 18 months and 2 years.
Symptoms at this age may indicate suspected CAS.
Suspected CAS means a child may potentially have this speech disorder.
The child's speech development should be watched to determine if therapy should begin.
Dyspraxia is a developmental condition that affects motor movement and coordination.
It's widely misunderstood and often misdiagnosed as ADHD.
Dyspraxia can also be referred to as DCD or developmental coordination disorder.
Childhood apraxia of speech is a rare condition that affects an estimated 1-2 out of every 1,000 children in the U.S.
Children with suspected DCD are usually assessed using a method called the Movement ABC, which involves tests of: gross motor skills – their ability to use large muscles that co-ordinate significant body movements, such as moving around, jumping and balancing.