Apraxia: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment

What is Apraxia?

A poorly understood neurological condition that makes it difficult for individuals suffering from it to perform certain motor movements is known as apraxia. The milder form of this condition is known as dyspraxia. It can occur in an individual in different forms. Some of the different types of Apraxia that experts essentially know of:

1. Speech Apraxia: when an individual is unable to speak properly
2. Limb-kinetic apraxia: when they are unable to move their arms and legs
3. Ideomotor apraxia
4. Ideational apraxia  
5. Orofacial apraxia: difficult in movements involving facial muscles

Apraxia Symptoms

 There are quite a few Apraxia symptoms that individuals must know about. It must be noted that this is a very complex condition and the symptoms and severity can differ from individual to individual. We have listed some of the most common ones across the different types below for your reference and knowledge:

1. Delayed first words as a child
2. Having trouble with longer words
3. Speaking the say words in different ways
4. A slower rate of speech
5. Having to move the jaw, lips, and tongue several times in order to be able to make a sound
6. Taking long pauses between syllables
7. Distortions of sound, substitutions, and sound additions too

These are some common reasons for Apraxia that people experience.  

Who is at Risk? 

There are various Apraxia risk factors as it can happen to anyone due to multiple reasons. Because of this, it becomes difficult to point out who is at a risk for it and who is not. However, experts have been able to identify certain possible risk factors related to this. We have mentioned them below for your reference and understanding of the same:  

1. A child between the ages of 18 months and 2 years has chances to face difficulty in speech due to this condition
2. Children between the ages of 2 to 4 years are also prone  

Apraxia Causes 

There are many factors that lead to Apraxia causes which have been identified by health experts however they have not been able to fully understand the cause behind why this happens in the first place. However, they have some theories in place for why this happens and we have discussed below for your understanding some of these causes in detail:

1. It May be due to genetic
2. An issue with the brain’s signals to the muscles for the purpose of the speech
3. Autism
4. Cerebral palsy
5. Epilepsy
6. A neuromuscular disorder

These are some common causes that are known to cause this condition.

How is Apraxia diagnosed?

 For Apraxia diagnosis, a professional speech therapist or pathologist will need to perform a certain number of Apraxia tests as there is no one test to understand what is causing this to happen. The doctor may Have to conduct multiple tests to get to the root cause of the problem since the symptoms vary from individual to individual so diagnosis through one method can get difficult. Some of the different methods of diagnosis include:

1. They will take a complete medical history of the child and examine it thoroughly
2. They will then look for different groups of symptoms that might cause this condition
3. They will also work to rule out other conditions of hearing disorders or muscle weakness.

How is Apraxia treated? 

The main method for Apraxia treatment is speech therapy both for children and adults. The approach will vary from individual to individual. Some of the commonly practiced methods have been mentioned below for you:

1. Getting the individual to repeat the same word or phrase multiple times
2. Practicing how to say specific syllables
3. Observing how the mouth of the therapist is moving

cult.fit, your friendly health care provider offering a variety of services for various health conditions. They are some of the best neurologists from all over India to attend to any and all medical requirements. Their services are listed on their app and website. You should consider them if you’ve been looking for a good Apraxia cure.

How can Apraxia be prevented? 

Apraxia prevention is difficult as the exact cause behind why this happens is still unknown. However, there are certain preventive measures that families can take toward an individual right from the time they are toddlers to minimize the risk of this happening in the future. These can be done easily at home as well. Some of these have been mentioned below for your understanding and consideration:

1. Ensuring that the child has a habit of reading books and practicing reading out loud from a young age
2. Having conversations with the child and observing how they speak

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