Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Differential Diagnosis & Treatment Faculty:Amy Skinder-Meredith – Amy Skinder-Meredith

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• Diagnose confidently and accurately
• Implement rewarding and functional motor learning principals
• Treatment techniques via video demonstrations
• Incorporate phonemic and phonological awareness into motor speech therapy

• Do you work with children who have Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)?
• Are you challenged with how to diagnose it, as well as how to treat it?
• If you answered yes, to either question, this workshop is for you!

Join Amy Skinder-Meredith, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, an expert in motor speech disorders, and learn effective assessment techniques that will allow you to be more confident in your diagnosis. Case examples of both English and Spanish speaking children will be used to guide us in careful observations pertinent to differential diagnosis and determining the relative contribution of various factors to the child’s communication disorder. We will focus on where to begin treatment and how to provide ongoing treatment for these children. Much of the emphasis on treatment will include implementing motor learning principles along with systematic, careful construction of stimuli that is both rewarding and functional for the client. You will learn fun ways to incorporate phonological awareness into speech therapy in a way that promotes a positive self-esteem. Treatment techniques will be demonstrated through video examples and will apply to a variety of ages and levels of severity. You will also learn the latest research regarding literacy issues found in children with CAS.

• List three key characteristics of CAS.
• Differentially diagnose apraxia of speech from phonologic delay, dysarthria, and other communication disorders that can result in speech delay.
• Explain two of the motor learning principles and how they apply to treatment of children with CAS.
• Implement treatment for children with CAS using Dynamic Tactile and Temporal Cuing.
• Incorporate phonemic and phonological awareness into motor speech therapy.
• Know how to adapt curriculum materials for children who are unintelligible.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): An Overview

• Developmental motor speech disorders
• Model of speech production
• Different beliefs on the underlying nature of CAS
• Characteristics of CAS
• Video and audio examples

Evaluating CAS

• The pitfalls of misdiagnosis
• Differentiate from other causes of speech disorders
• Assessment techniques designed to differently diagnose
• Phonologic impairment versus CAS versus dysarthria
• Determine the relative contribution of apraxia, phonologic impairment, dysarthria, cognition, and language to the child’s communication disorder
• Video case examples and discussion

Principles of Motor Learning and How it Applies to Treatment of CAS

• Precursors to motor learning
• Conditions of practice
• Practice variability
• Types of feedback

Treatment of CAS

• Key principles that are the most important to the treatment
• Clinical decision making in treatment and treatment planning
• Examples of various bottom-up therapy techniques
• Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC)
• Treatment for the non-verbal child
• Data collection and documenting progress

Incorporate Phonological Awareness and Early Literacy Skills

• Key elements to address that will improve both phonological awareness and speech
• Adaptive tools that are easy to use for teaching phonological awareness, speech, literacy, and language
• Benefits of intensive therapy summer camp models that address motor speech, phonological awareness, early literacy skills, and language