Motor Speech Disorders
A motor speech disorder occurs when a child has difficulty planning, coordinating, or executing the precise movements required for clear speech. The child typically knows what they want to say. However, are challenges in how the brain communicates with the muscles of the mouth, lips, tongue, and jaw to produce speech. Speech therapy helps your child learn how to coordinate the muscles needed for speech through highly individualized, structured practice.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
Affects the planning and coordination of speech movements
The child knows what they want to say, but the message from the brain to the mouth gets scrambled
Words come out differently each time and are hard to understand
You might notice effortful speech, groping (mouth searching for the right shape), or limited talking
Dysarthria
Affects the strength and control of the muscles used to speak
Speech might sound slow, slurred, quiet, or flat
It is often caused by muscle weakness or difficulty controlling movement (from conditions like cerebral palsy, brain injury, or other neurological differences)
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