Signs, Symptoms, and Diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech

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Speech and Language Kids Podcast 30 min 1 speaker 2 chapters transcribed 2 days ago

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What is the purpose of this episode and who is the guest?

Carrie Clark 0:00

Hey, hey, hey, everybody. This is Kari Clark with SpeechAndLanguageKids.com. You are listening to episode number 20 of the Speech and Language Kids podcast. This is the podcast with activities and resources for families of children with speech and language delays, as well as the professionals who serve them. Today we'll be listening to an interview with Barbara Davis. Barbara Davis will be talking about the symptoms and diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech. So if you don't know what that disorder is, please stay tuned. We're going to talk about that in depth. Also, I want to mention that I am doing a giveaway on my website right now. So if you are interested in getting some free lesson plans for teaching speech and language skills, you can head on over to my website at www.speechandlanguagekids.com slash free lesson plans.

Carrie Clark 0:47

That was hard to say. Sorry. Free lesson plans with an S on the end. If you head over there, you will see I have some lesson plans and some worksheets slash handouts that you can send home or you can do them at home if you're a parent. These are good for SLPs or parents. So head on over there. You will see lesson plans for teaching the pronouns he and she and teaching spatial concepts, which are two of the ones that I come across the most in terms of questions from listeners. So if you go on over there, you can get those free lesson plans. Those are part of my larger book, my e-book that I sell on my website, the Speech and Language Therapy Guide. That is full of lesson plans and worksheets and activities.

Carrie Clark 1:27

But this will give you a couple sections of that for free. So head on over there, speechandlanguagekids.com slash free lesson plans. All right, let's go ahead and move on into the interview. The interview today is with Barbara Davis. She is a speech-language pathologist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Barbara has published several articles on childhood apraxia of speech, including Recognizing Consonant and Vowel Patterns, as well as Differential Diagnosis of the Disorder of Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Barbara has a lot of great information about childhood apraxia of speech, and I had such a great time doing this interview with her. So let's jump straight on into the interview. I'm here with Barbara Davis from the University of Texas at Austin.

Carrie Clark 2:07

Barbara, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

Barbara L. Davis 2:10

Thank you for asking me.

Carrie Clark 2:11

Of course. Of course. First, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and about your background?

Barbara L. Davis 2:17

I am a speech language pathologist. Right now, for the last 25 years, I've been a professor at the University of Texas at Austin doing the academic side of speech-language pathology. Before that, I had various kinds of jobs as a practicing speech-language pathologist. I've worked in the public schools, and I've done public policy. I was the speech-language pathologist for the state of Texas. for several years. I've owned a private speech pathology practice. I've done a lot of consulting with various state agencies. For example, the Community Living Autism Support Program for autistic boys and girls who are in school to help them with social skills. The Regional Day School for the Deaf for boys and girls with hearing impairment in Austin, Texas in the regional area.

Barbara L. Davis 3:21

and community living for adults with developmental disabilities who were coming out of their homes and into group homes. I understand whether differences, speech language pathology services could make a difference in their communication capacities. So I've had a lot of different kinds of speech language pathology jobs in a lot of different settings. I like that a lot because it helps me to understand why I'm asking my students who are master's and doctoral level speech pathology students to learn what they learn.

Carrie Clark 3:57

Yes, that sounds like a very widely varied background. That's very cool.

Barbara L. Davis 4:01

Yeah, I like being a speech language pathologist. I've done a lot of different things, and that's one of the benefits, I think, of our profession.

Carrie Clark 4:08

Yes, yes, I agree. I always, whenever I have students coming in and observing me, I'm always talking to them about how many different things you can do with that profession, so that's great.

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Chapters

2 chapters

1 What is the purpose of this episode and who is the guest? 0:00–11:04 2 What is Barbara Davis’s professional background and experience with speech‑language pathology? 11:04–29:58

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1 identified

Carrie Clark 9 min

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Topics in this episode

iTunes 2 Speech and Language Kids podcast 1 speechandlanguagekids.com 5 University of Texas at Austin 3 Childhood apraxia of speech 3 CAS 1 Nancy Kaufman 1 Apraxia Kids 3 American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association 1 Goldman Fristoe 1 Barbara L. Davis 1 Barbara Dodd 1

Source

Recorded28 Oct 2014

Publisherspeechandlanguagekids.com ↗

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

Handlerec:20528625

Show notes

Speech-Language Pathologist Barbara Davis joins us today to discuss the signs and symptoms of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) as well as how it is diagnosed. Click the play button below to listen to the entire episode or scroll down to view the show notes. Show Notes: What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech? Disorder of speech, not a delay. Delay would be learning to speak later than typically-developing children but in the same order and way. A disorder is when the child learns in an atypical manner. Common symptoms of CAS: Variability in production (says it differently each time he tries) Vowel errors (kids typically master vowels between 18-24 mos) Trouble sequencing sounds (can say “oh” but has trouble putting it with a consonant to say “toe” or “go”). Unusual prosody (the pitch, tone, and pausing of speech) Severe sound errors Symptoms persist to older ages than other speech problems Differential Diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Many other disorders can look like CAS. Differential diagnosis involves looking at all of these possibilities to make sure the child doesn’t need a different diagnosis instead. Here are some other disorders that should be ruled out for an appropriate diagnosis of CAS: Dysarthria (trouble with the muscles and structures that produce speech) Hearing Loss Auditory Processing (being able to hear but not being able to process the sounds) Cognitive Problems **It’s important to note that children with CAS could have these things as well, but a purely CAS diagnosis would come without these things. What Causes Childhood Apraxia of Speech? CAS is caused by motor planning difficulties. This means that the child knows what he wants to say, but the signal gets mixed up in his brain during the motor planning phase. This is what causes the inconsistencies in his errors. Sometimes, these types of problems are caused by injuries to the brain or nervous systems, but often they do not seem to have any cause at all. Who Can Diagnose Childhood Apraxia of Speech? Any speech-language pathologist (SLP) has the basic knowledge and certification to diagnose CAS but based on how tricky the diagnosis can be, it is advised that an SLP have additional training, workshops, and experience with CAS in order to make a confident diagnosis. How is a Childhood Apraxia of Speech Diagnosis Made? In short, cautiously! Many severe speech problems can look like CAS at first. It is important to only make the diagnosis of CAS after a course of therapy has been observed. Children with true CAS often make very slow progress with typical therapies. You also should not be diagnosing children with CAS before they are consistently using spoken language to communicate. That means, if the child isn’t talking, even if you observe them trying to make sounds, a diagnosis of CAS should NOT be made. At this point, CAS looks exactly the same to severe phonological disorders, severe articulation disorders, severe dysarthria, and many more. Are there Tests for Childhood Apraxia of Speech? Currently, there are very few instruments for differential diagnosis of CAS. Barbara Dodd and Nancy Kaufmann are two who have created CAS-specific diagnostic tools but you must not solely rely on a standard speech test, such as the Goldmann Fristoe Test of Articulation. These tests do not measure the variability, prosody, or vowel productions. If you are an SLP looking into CAS diagnosis, you should do plenty of research about the current diagnostic tools and how they are used. You should also make sure to do a thorough spontaneous speech sample to collect data on all features of CAS. What’s a Parent to Do? If you are the parent of a child with suspected or diagnosed CAS, you should talk openly with your speech-language pathologist (SLP) about CAS. Talk about the various other diagnoses that need to be ruled out and ask how it has been determined that your child does not have those conditions instead. Also, ask your SLP about their background, training, and experience with CAS. CAS is treated quite differently from typical speech errors so you want to make sure to find an SLP with experience. How to Find More Information: Apraxia Kids Website: a fabulous resource for families and professionals working with children with CAS Use continuing education courses: find workshops, conferences, webinars, or other trainings about the subject Join email lists about CAS ASHA Certified CEUs Set up Google Alerts to let you know whenever new information on CAS is available More Information on Barbara Davis: Click the link below to visit Barbara’s page: http://csd.utexas.edu/faculty/barbara-davis More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists: Looking for more therapy ideas and resources to help you provide the BEST services to your clients? Join us in The SLP Solution, our membership program for speech-language professionals! Inside the membership, you’ll find: Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP TODAY! The post Signs, Symptoms, and Diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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