Principles of Motor Learning (PML) refers to how you structure practice of the target words, in apraxia therapy.

Before we go further, click here to receive a handout with the PML to refer to for session planning.

This blog post will focus on clinical application of the PML. Refer to the handout...

A frequently asked question in my DM's is, when can I start working on phrases?

In apraxia therapy, we look at building verbal communication skills through improving their speech motor planning skills.  Therefore, it may be more advantageous to teach more single words then to work on...

Does a child need make eye contact in apraxia therapy?

What is multisensory cueing? And why is it so important in apraxia therapy?

Multisensory cueing involves visual, auditory-verbal, and tactile cues. Children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) struggle with sequencing speech movements and transitioning between sounds. The use of multisensory...

Co-articulation is a useful approach with children speech sound disorders.  It is especially helpful for children with CAS as prosody errors are common.

Co-articulation Explained:

• Co-articulation refers to how a sound is influenced by neighboring sounds.
• Consider co-articulation when...

One of the most important aspects of treatment for childhood apraxia of speech is multi-sensory cueing.  That includes auditory / verbal, tactile and visual cues.  Todays post will focus on how I use speech sound cue cards as a visual cue to elicit sounds and...

What makes one toy more effective for apraxia speech therapy than another?

I try and work on my target words in a functional activity. 

Some toys are more limiting and some are more open ended.

Open ended means they can be used in many different ways.  Easter eggs are an example...

Vowel distortions are common in children with apraxia of speech.

Vowel errors significantly affect intelligibility.  It is a more discriminative characteristic of childhood apraxia of speech.  Apraxia therapy must address vowel errors.

Please note: I will be...

Feedback is very important in apraxia therapy. It is part of the structure of principles of motor learning. It gives the child information as to whether or not his production was accurate or if he needs to change the movements on the next production.  

Do you know about the different...

When teaching a new word, please don't segment!

Segmenting is when you teach each sound in the word separately. It creates robotic speech and does not help the child move between the sounds.

Apraxia therapy is all about movement.  Children with childhood apraxia of speech have difficulty...

What is Prosody of Speech? And why do children with CAS have difficulty with Prosody?

Prosody is: 

The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.  

• Stress: the emphasis on a syllable.
• Rhythm: the timing of the stress of syllables in a sentence.
• Intonation:  the way the pitch...