What is Apraxia?
Lately we have started hearing and reading a lot about Apraxia. What is Apraxia? This health disorder belongs to the category of neurological disorders and in this the patient faces issues with display and execution of skills as well as gestures. In other words, you can say that this disorder creates issues for motor functions because the brain fails to send apt signals to the body and organs.
Types of Apraxia
It is important to note that apraxia has many types and these different types may solely occur in the patient or they may combine together and affect the patient. However, the most common types of apraxia include apraxia of speech and buccofacial apraxia. In both these types the patient faces problems with facial movements. The other forms of the disorder also include apraxia of eyes, arms or legs. However, these forms would rarely occur. The most common form of apraxia include apraxia of speech and this is very much common among children.Symptoms of speech Apraxia include
- Problems in speaking complex words
- Problems with pronunciation of words
- Speech inconsistency
- Excessive use of nonverbal forms of communication
- Distortion of vowel sounds
- Struggle in making words
How to Treat Apraxia?
Diagnosing speech apraxia is also quite difficult. There is not a single test or procedure that is used to diagnose apraxia of speech. Speech language pathologists look for multiple, common apraxia symptoms. Interaction and talking with the patient would help in fetching the idea about health condition. Examination of tongue, mouth and body language would also bring out the developmental and structural issues that the patient suffers from. For acquired apraxia MRI scan will prove to be helpful.Even though there are many medications as available for this disorder, reports suggest that medication and drug treatment do not give satisfactory results. In fact, it is believed that a few therapies would help the child to overcome symptoms of speech apraxia. Here is the detailed information about the helpful therapies for treating the problem.
Speech therapy: Experts use sign language and audio visuals to get an idea about the patient’s condition. With this, they will realize the severity of the problem and thus in that regards they can make a developmental program for the patient. It is true that the treatment should be supportive and consistent. But at the same time, the follow up procedure should also be quite strong. A combination of all these aspects in speech therapy will bring out better results.
Physical therapy: Physical therapy for apraxia includes physical exercises, training sessions and balancing techniques. The therapist should be smart enough and should be able to design a specific custom made physical training session for the patient so as to enhance the benefits of the therapy.
Occupational therapy: In this therapy, the therapist helps the patient by making the complex tasks simpler. If there is a long task that includes multiple procedures, the therapists would suggest breaking down the task in to small sub tasks and this will help the patient attain better confidence levels. Television and voice recorders may be used in such therapies.
It is important to note that this problem is much common among children. However, even adults may acquire them in some cases. With such supportive medical intervention, the problem can be reduced to a certain extent. However, there are a few risks that apraxia would pose for the adult patients and these include nutritional deficiencies, stroke, dementia etc. Controlling the severity of the symptoms and the problem removal as associated with the disorder should be the aim of the treatment.
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