Childhood speech dyspraxia is a developmental disorder that affects a child’s ability to form words or pronounce sounds correctly. It is divided into three categories and affects boys more than girls. Children with dyspraxia may require speech therapy and other forms of communication aids.
Childhood speech dyspraxia, also known as infantile aphraxia, is a speech disorder that makes it difficult for children to form words or pronounce sounds correctly. This developmental problem, which starts before birth, affects boys four times more often than girls. Many researchers believe that child speech dyspraxia is the result of underdevelopment or immaturity in the motor cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for sending signals and messages to the rest of the body.
Childhood speech dyspraxia is generally divided into two categories. Children with oral dyspraxia are unable to move their mouths correctly to create certain sounds, while children with verbal dyspraxia have difficulty putting sounds and syllables together to say words. A third type, motor dyspraxia, affects the body; children with motor dyspraxia have difficulty with perception and depth and are often uncoordinated, clumsy, and deranged. Children can suffer from more than one type of dyspraxia at the same time.
Children with dyspraxia may not make as many sounds as other children and may show difficulty with oral movements such as chewing or swallowing. They may start talking later than other children. Young children with the disorder often drop difficult sounds in words, skip entire syllables, or shorten words so they’re easier to pronounce.
Older children with dyspraxia are often difficult to understand. They are able to understand spoken words but are unable to respond which can be extremely frustrating. Children with speech dyspraxia lack verbal prosody and may insert spaces in the wrong places or underline the wrong word or syllable. They often stop during speech and mentally grope for words or sounds.
Anxiety makes things worse. Sometimes they can pronounce sounds correctly in a comfortable, stress-free environment, but they cannot make the same sounds or words when they are feeling stressed or upset. Some children may have difficulty learning to read or write. They may have difficulty mastering fine motor skills tasks such as cutting, tying shoelaces, or writing. Child speech dyspraxia can have a significant impact on the emotional well-being of affected children; their social skills often suffer and they may exhibit behavioral or emotional problems.
Children generally do not outgrow dyspraxia as they mature. Depending on the level of severity, affected children may require frequent and intensive speech therapy to coordinate and strengthen their muscles so they can form sounds properly. Some therapists recommend the use of communication boards, computer devices, or sign language as an additional part of therapy.
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