Imagine having something you really want to say—but your mouth doesn’t seem to know how to make the words come out the way you planned.

You know the word. You know what you mean. But saying it accurately is difficult.

For children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), this can be part of everyday life.

May is Apraxia Awareness Month, providing an opportunity to learn more about this motor speech disorder and the children and families navigating it.

Apraxia Isn’t About Not Knowing the Word

Childhood apraxia of speech involves difficulty planning and programming the movements needed to produce speech.

A child may know exactly what they want to say but have difficulty coordinating the precise movements required to say it.

This can make speech inconsistent and difficult to understand.

What Might Parents Notice?

Some children with CAS may:

• Make inconsistent sound errors
• Have difficulty saying longer words
• Struggle to imitate words
• Have difficulty moving smoothly from one sound to another
• Be much harder to understand than expected
• Have difficulty producing words they previously said
• Appear to search or “work” to make certain speech movements
• Become frustrated when others don’t understand them

One important clue can be inconsistency.

A child may say a word correctly once and then produce it differently the next time.

Communication Frustration Is Not a Behavior Problem

When children cannot reliably communicate what they want, frustration is understandable.

A child may cry, point, give up, avoid speaking, or become upset when others don’t understand.

Rather than simply thinking, “They’re refusing to talk,” it can be helpful to ask:

“Is communication difficult for them right now?”

Giving a child additional ways to communicate can reduce frustration while supporting continued speech development.

What Does Therapy Look Like?

Treatment for childhood apraxia of speech is individualized and typically involves repeated practice of speech movements with appropriate cueing and feedback.

Our SLPs may work on:

• Functional words
• Sound sequences
• Motor planning
• Speech movement patterns
• Increasing consistency
• Building word and phrase complexity
• Improving intelligibility
• Supporting communication across environments

But therapy isn’t just about producing a word correctly in a session.

We want children to be able to use communication skills with their parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and community.

Parents Are Part of the Team

Caregiver involvement can make a meaningful difference.

Our therapists can help families understand what their child is working on and provide strategies that can naturally fit into everyday routines.

A few minutes of meaningful practice during play, meals, books, or daily routines can be much more manageable than trying to turn the entire day into therapy.

Every Attempt Is Communication

For a child with apraxia, a new word can represent an enormous amount of work.

That’s why we celebrate progress—not just perfect speech.

At iRehab, our pediatric speech-language pathologists work with children and families to develop functional communication skills while building confidence and reducing frustration.

Services are available in-home, in our Sterling Heights clinic, in community settings, and through telehealth.

📞 248.252.6064
📧 marcia@irehabservices.com

Every child deserves the opportunity to communicate, connect, and be understood—and we’re here to help them find their way to those words.