title: Bridging the Gap Between Speech and Language: Using Multimodal Treatment in a Child With Apraxia.
abstract: Childhood apraxia of speech is a neurologic speech sound disorder in which children have difficulty constructing words and sounds due to poor motor planning and coordination of the articulators required for speech sound production. We report the case of a 3-year-old boy strongly suspected to have childhood apraxia of speech at 18 months of age who used multimodal communication to facilitate language development throughout his work with a speech language pathologist. In 18 months of an intensive structured program, he exhibited atypical rapid improvement, progressing from having no intelligible speech to achieving age-appropriate articulation. We suspect that early introduction of sign language by family proved to be a highly effective form of language development, that when coupled with intensive oro-motor and speech sound therapy, resulted in rapid resolution of symptoms.
authors: Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation and Development, and ctierney@hmc.psu.edu.
authors: Cheryl D
authors: CD
authors: Tierney
authors: Departments of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics and.
authors: Kathleen
authors: K
authors: Pitterle
authors: Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Supervisor of Speech Language Pathology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania; and.
authors: Marie
authors: M
authors: Kurtz
authors: The Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Nakhla
authors: The Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
authors: Carlyn
authors: C
authors: Todorow
mesh_terms: D001072:Apraxias / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012813:Sign Language; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D013070:Speech Therapy / Q000379:methods*