Speech apraxia is characterized by a speech disorder, in which the person has difficulty speaking because he cannot properly articulate the muscles involved in speech. Although the person is able to reason correctly, he has difficulty articulating words, he is able to drag certain words and distort certain sounds.

The causes of apraxia vary depending on the type of apraxia and can be genetic or result from brain damage at any stage of life.

Treatment is usually done with speech therapy and exercise at home, which should recommend speech therapist.

There are two types of speech apraxia, classified according to their onset:

Congenital speech apraxia is present from birth and is only detected in childhood when children begin to learn to speak. What is not yet known to cause it, but it is believed to be related to genetic factors or associated with diseases such as autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, metabolic conditions or neuromuscular disorder.

Acquired apraxia can occur at any stage of life and can be caused by brain damage, accident injury, infection, stroke, brain tumor or neurodegenerative disease.

Some of the most common symptoms caused by speech apraxia are difficulty speaking, due to the inability to properly articulate the jaw, lips and tongue, which can include speech problems, speaks with a limited number of words, distortion of certain sounds, and pauses between syllables. or words.

For children who are already born with this disorder, they may find it more difficult to pronounce certain words, especially if they are very long. In addition, many of them are behind in the development of language, which can manifest itself not in terms of meaning and construction of sentences, but also in written language.

To distinguish speech apraxia from other diseases with similar symptoms, your doctor may diagnose hearing tests to understand whether speech difficulty is related to hearing problems, a physical examination of the lips, jaw and tongue, to understand if there is a malformation that causes the problem and evaluate speech.

See other speech disorders that may have similar symptoms

Treatment usually consists of speech therapy sessions, adapted to the severity of the person’s apraxia. During these sessions, which should be common, the person should practice syllables, words and phrases, under the direction of a therapist.

In addition, you must continue to practice at home, being able to perform certain speech therapy exercises recommended by the therapist or speech therapist.

When speech apraxia is very severe and does not improve with speech therapy, other methods of communication, such as sign language, may be necessary.