Ahmad’s Story – Childhood Apraxia of Speech and the Motor Speech Pathway

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What is childhood apraxia of speech and how does it affect a child's communication?

Carrie Clark 0:01

Today's story is about my uh five-year-old friend Ahmad and his journey with childhood apraxia of speech at the preschool letter level and our speech therapy journey for helping him learn some words and discover how to find his voice via AAC. So, welcome to the podcast. I am your host, Carrie Clark, speech language pathologist, and I'm going to be sharing. Sharing with you Ahmad's story today. And as we do that, I'm going to be talking through the different aspects of the Speech and Language Kids framework that we used in order to support Ahmad on his journey to learning how to speak and learning how to communicate with all of his friends and peers. So welcome to the podcast. Hey Francine, welcome.

Carrie Clark 0:51

All right. As you know, I record these live inside the hub. So if you would like to join me on the next recording of the Speech and Language Kids podcast, you can come over to Hub dot speechandlanguage kids dot com. You'll also be able to find all of the checklists and screening tools that I'm going to be talking about today as we talk through a mod's story. Hey Cecilia. Hey Jenny, welcome. All right, you guys should be able to find the chat there so you can pop over there and ask questions as we go along. Hey Kami. Okay, so let's talk about my friend Ahmad. And yes, I am changing names. I always change the names when I talk about my past clients. But Ahmad was a five-year-old boy with childhood apraxia of speech.

Carrie Clark 1:34

And if you are unfamiliar with childhood apraxia of speech, that is a motor speech disorder. So that means his brain knew what he wanted to say and sent the message to his mother. Mouth to say it, and somewhere along that journey between his brain and his mouth, the signals get crossed, the wires don't connect, and they are not able to pronounce those words, those sounds the way that they want to. And so what this tends to look like is it might look like every time they try to say something, it comes out different, and it sounds nonsensical because it's not the right. Great sounds that they were going for. Or maybe they have trouble getting the sounds out and getting them to connect with other sounds.

Carrie Clark 2:18

So it might sound choppy or robotic. And so what we see with these children with childhood apraxia of speech is that it's really the motor planning and the motor processing that's getting mixed up. It's not Their brain. They know what they want to say. They know how to say it. It's just the signal's not getting there. And that can be due to neurological damage, but sometimes we have no idea. Sometimes we don't know what causes apraxia. And it is just one of those things where brains develop differently, right? And there's so many ways that brains can develop. And so that is one of the things that sometimes happens. This particular child, he had childhood apraxia of speech, but he also had a whole slew of other developmental challenges due to some trauma from his past.

Carrie Clark 3:05

So I know he was only five, but he had a rough five years and he had a lot of um, well, he had reactive attachment disorder. So he had a lot of trouble with relationships with others. He had some damage to his intestines due to lack of food. So there was a lot going on for this little friend. And I wonder, you know, looking back on it, I wonder if some of that neurological impact is what caused the apraxia, some of the trauma from his past. But You know, sometimes we don't know, like I said. Um, so he had a praxia, but he had great receptive language, meaning that he could understand everything that we were saying and he could communicate with us in a lot of ways that weren't speech. He would be able to act something out or walk you over to it, or um, you know, pantomime.

Carrie Clark 3:54

He was able to get his point across very clearly when he needed to, but s really, really struggled with the speech. He wasn't really able to get many words out at all. And one of the interesting things about apraxia Is that certain words will get repeated over and over enough that those that motor pathway become solid. And so they're able to use certain words and say them clear as day.

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Chapters

2 chapters

1 What is childhood apraxia of speech and how does it affect a child's communication? 0:01–5:37 2 How did Carrie identify Ahmad’s primary communication needs using the SLK framework? 5:37–25:12

Speakers

1 identified

Carrie Clark 22 min

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Topics in this episode

ADHD 1 AAC 5 Carrie Clark 1 Childhood apraxia of speech 4 Ahmad 4 Speech and Language Kids 3 Occupational therapist 1 physical therapist 1 reactive attachment disorder 2 motor speech 2 behavior specialist 1

Source

Recorded21 Apr 2025

Publisherspeechandlanguagekids.com ↗

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

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Show notes

Ahmad’s Story: Childhood Apraxia of Speech and the Motor Speech PathwayIn this episode, Carrie shares the story of a sweet 5-year-old boy named Ahmad (name changed for privacy) and his journey with childhood apraxia of speech. From using AAC to working through early speech sounds, Carrie walks through the specific framework and strategies that helped Ahmad go from frustration to finding his voice. If you’re working with a child who struggles to speak but clearly has a lot to say, this one’s for you. Listen to the Podcast Here You can listen to the full podcast episode below: What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)?Carrie kicks off the episode by explaining what childhood apraxia of speech is—a motor speech disorder where the brain knows what it wants to say, but the message doesn’t make it clearly to the mouth. Ahmad had CAS along with other developmental and medical challenges, which made early intervention even more important. Carrie talks about what apraxia can look like in a preschooler and how it can affect speech production in unpredictable ways. Learn more about Childhood Apraxia of Speech Using the SLK Framework to Plan Therapy Carrie walks through how she applied the Speech and Language Kids Framework to Ahmad’s case. The first step? Identifying the areas of communication that needed the most support. For Ahmad, that meant: Functional communication (getting needs met) Speech production (expressing himself verbally) From there, she explains how they chose two primary therapy pathways: AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) for functional communication Motor Speech Approach for targeting simple, early speech patterns Grab the SLK Therapy Framework Introducing AAC (and Managing Parent Concerns) Ahmad’s story isn’t just about the therapy—it’s about the people involved, too. Carrie shares how she encountered resistance from Ahmad’s mom about using AAC, particularly because of concerns around manipulation and behavior due to reactive attachment disorder. Instead of pushing her agenda, Carrie modeled collaboration by calling a team meeting. Together with a behavior specialist and the family, they developed a plan: Ahmad could use the AAC device, but would also be encouraged to attempt speech with each use. This balanced approach honored everyone’s concerns while still supporting Ahmad’s communication. Related Resource Targeting Early Speech Skills with Motor Speech TherapyWith AAC in place, Carrie focused on Ahmad’s expressive speech. She used a motor speech approach, starting with simple word shapes like consonant-vowel (CV) and vowel-consonant (VC) patterns. Key strategies included: Selecting core words that were functional (like “go,” “up,” “in,” “bye”) Practicing with frequent, short sessions throughout the school day Posting word lists in the classroom for consistent reinforcement Collaborating with teachers and parents to embed practice into daily routines Try the Motor Speech Therapy Plan Practical Therapy Example: Real-Life RepetitionCarrie describes how she used brief, frequent practice opportunities—like greeting Ahmad at the classroom door and reviewing his core words by his backpack. These mini-sessions, combined with play-based speech therapy and consistent home carryover, helped Ahmad make meaningful progress. Key Tip: Kids with apraxia benefit from distributed practice—short bursts of practice multiple times a day are more effective than one long session. Takeaways for SLPs and Caregivers Collaboration is key—trust and teamwork with families and staff make interventions more successful. AAC doesn’t mean giving up on speech—it can be a bridge to verbal communication. Consistent, functional practice helps kids build motor speech pathways over time. If you’re working with preschoolers with CAS or complex needs, you’ll find loads of practical gems in this episode. Resources and LinksSLK Therapy Framework Motor Speech Therapy Plan in the Hub AAC Overview for SLPs and Parents Apraxia-KIDS.org Join the Next Live RecordingReady for more? Join the next live podcast recording inside The Hub! The post Ahmad’s Story – Childhood Apraxia of Speech and the Motor Speech Pathway appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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