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- Jessie
- Kohn
- 4075 East Campus Loop South, 102 Barkley Memorial Center
Lincoln
Nebraska
68583-0738
United States - Barkley Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln
Nebraska
68583-0738
United States
You have known that your child hasn’t learned to speak as effortlessly as most children. Most recently, you have learned that your child’s speech development is a result of Childhood Apraxia of Speech. This means that the instructions from their brain to their muscles for speech aren’t working as efficiently as they could, but the good news is that we know how to make the instructions more efficient! Through specialized speech therapy, which is different than traditional articulation intervention, your child can learn to make the movements for speech production with the correct speed, force, timing, and direction so that their speech is more efficient. Rather than focus on targeting certain sounds (e.g., /p/ in “pop”, “puppy,” “pig”), I will select words and/or utterances (with your input too) for your child, in which we will think about how the movement of the lips, tongue, and jaw flow based on the combinations of consonants, vowels, and syllables. I use the concept of principles of motor learning which means that we focus on scheduling shorter more frequent sessions than one would have in traditional articulation therapy, we focus on maximizing the number of practice opportunities each visit, start with practicing a specific target word or utterance many times in a row to start and then begin adding in another target (s) as your child gets more accurate movements. Also, I will focus on a systematic type of cues and feedback because of apraxia, which should be specific and frequent at first (e.g., make your mouth smaller, your tongue tighter), and move to less direct feedback as your child gets better with each target.
As a parent, you may feel a huge responsibility to help your child turn out to be the best version of themselves possible (in all areas of life!) You may have a lot of questions or worries about what you can do to help your child talk better. You’ve already taken a huge step; you recognized the importance of communication, and you were committed to find people who can give your child the best opportunity to develop speech. As parents/caregivers, you know your child best! As the speech-language pathologist, I will see your child for a very short duration of time in comparison to the moments you have and will spend with them in a lifetime. Let’s work together using my knowledge about speech development and your knowledge about your child to support our goals! We want home practice to be fun and meaningful, so let’s talk about your comfort level and skill at using some of the techniques from therapy that will support your child’s speech development. Most importantly, as a parent, you can continue to help your child develop by reinforcing your child’s communication attempts and encouraging communication in any way possible (e.g., pointing, gestures, using a picture system or device). Acknowledge that taking can be hard, help them to express their feelings and let them know that you care about what they have to say. If they frustrated or you aren’t sure what they are saying at that time, suggest that you come back to the idea a little later.
Your child has CAS which impacts their skill with successfully using spoken communication right now. However, I know that your child has many things they want and need to say, and it is important that we provide them some additional tools while they continue to develop their speech. AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and these are the tools that can help your child communicate more effectively and hopefully reduce any communication frustrations for both your child and you. There are many options for AAC, and we can explore what works best, keeping in mind that one tool might work better for one situation and so we may have different tools! For example, with some children, offering a binary choice by holding your hands up and associating options in the moment (e.g., do you want to stay home with dad (left hand) or come with me to the store? (right hand)) can be a fast way to clarify your child’s preference by having them touch the hand corresponding with the choice. You may also be interested in using this printed picture support that we laminate with several copies (e.g., one for the car, one for the fridge, one in the bathroom, etc.) that has some quick wants/needs displayed that your child could point to (e.g., I’m hungry, I want to play outside, Let’s go see grandma, I want to watch PJ Masks, etc). I have a smart tablet also that has a few communication apps on it. I have loaned it out to families for a couple of weeks at a time, so their child could use it as their “voice” since the apps can speak full messages or combine messages. This can be very useful and often provides a spoken model that children will attempt to imitate, thereby furthering their speech while also helping them communicate their messages. What questions do you have for me?
