Question
We are working with a child, now 9 years old, who is severely apraxic in speech as well as in fine and gross motor skills. The child has been enrolled in a highly specialized intensive full day program for the past 4 years. The foundation of the program i
Answer
The question that you pose regarding the 9 year old child who is severely apraxic in both speech and fine and gross motor skills is a complex one. Since he will be going into regular school programming, he will need an individual education plan and a multi-factored evaluation to assess his capabilities and strengths and weaknesses. He should have a complete language evaluation to determine where he is functioning in receptive and expressive language and vocabulary. His sound system will also need to be assessed as well as oral motor functioning. There are specific strategies for children with oral motor and sound sequencing problems and depending on his level of functioning, a program to address these issues will need to be initiated. Since he is going into a regular school setting and has limited verbal skills, he may need an augmentative system to help him communicate with other students. An evaluation for an appropriate augmentative system may also need to be done. Since it appears that he has not made much progress with the association method, looking at alternative strategies would be very appropriate. I do not feel that I can make recommendations about specific methods since I do not have enough information about this child's current capabilities.
Carol Grasha, MA, CCC has been a speech pathologist for 30 years working in various settings with both adults and children. Carol has been with Cincinnati Children's Hospital since 1988 and has been on the interdisciplinary team with an occupational therapist, developmental pediatrician and neurologist since 1999 to address the issue of Childhood Apraxia of Speech. This clinic team is devoted to clinical diagnosis and research in the area of childhood apraxia of speech.
Carol Grasha, M.A.,CCC
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