Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a childhood neurological speech sound disorder which is characterized by impairment of the consistency and precision of movements underlying speech with the main impairment consisting of programming and/or planning spatiotemporal aspects of movement sequences resulting in speech sound prosody and production errors (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2007). CAS is present in pediatric populations as contrasted with Apraxia of Speech (AOS) which is an adult diagnosis.
Childhood apraxia of speech is considered controversial by some researchers. Shriberg (n.d.) argues that although the diagnostic term is undoubtedly accurate, it has not yet been backed up by sufficient or compelling research
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However, due to the lack of common diagnostic symptomology and criteria these characteristics are not agreed upon by all practitioners. As such, not all children with CAS present with the same, or even similar, characteristics. This is why evaluation by a speech-language pathologist is essential in the diagnosis of CAS.
CAS impacts development of linguistic and higher phonological processing as compared to Apraxia of Speech in adults (Maassen, 2002). Very young children suspected of having CAS do not babble or coo when they are infants (Davis & Velleman, 2000). Their first words are late and may be missing sounds. They may only utilize a few consonant and vowel sounds. And they have a problem combining sounds and may have disrupted or lengthened transitions between sounds. Although all children have difficulty with speech phonotactic errors, consonant harmony, and final consonant deletion in the first 12-18 months of life, children with CAS have these issue persist past the age of 3 (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2007). They also may simplify words by replacing difficult sounds by easier ones or deleting more difficult sounds all