Apraxia of Speech (American terminology) is known in England as Verbal Dyspraxia. It describes a condition in which speech clarity is affected by decreased co-ordination of the oral muscles.
In other words(!) the jaw, lips and tongue don't quite work together and get it right. Children - and adults - can be affected to differing degrees. Some will respond to just a small amount of therapy if their difficulties are very mild. However, for most children with this diagnosis, it is a long road of regular therapy and practice.
So dyspraxia is when co-ordination of the muscles is impaired. Dyspraxia can also occur on top of a muscle weakness (dysarthria). When this happens, it is really important that therapy addresses the muscle weakness first, rather than simply trying to get better co-ordination - as this would only achieve better co-ordination of weak muscles.
I have seen features of dyspraxia in many children who are on the autistic spectrum. This isn't surprising when you consider that motor planning difficulties are common in children with autism.
Traditional therapy for verbal dyspraxia focuses on auditory and visual methods of input followed by lots and lots of practice. If this approach works, then great! That is all that is needed. There are different published programmes such as the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme (UK) that do the job.
But what traditional therapy does not do is account for those children who learn best through tactile methods. They need auditory, visual AND tactile input in order to learn what to do with their mouth. That is where Talk Tools comes in. It offers an approach that helps this particular group of children transfer their muscle skills (muscle strength) into speech. It also allows us to provide a more holistic therapy environment, considering eating and drinking skills as well as speech (they are all joined up).
Visit my website for details of how to get in touch for an in-depth assessment or treatment.
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