Month: November 2009

Definition of Apraxia

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Does apraxia affect classroom learning? Strictly speaking, “apraxia” is a motor speech disorder. Therefore, it only effects the production of speech. But many of these children also have other problems- in comprehension, vocabulary, question comprehension, etc. To me, that means that the child has apraxia AND something else. The apraxia should only effect the expression of speech. That is a “purest” view. And you will read and hear of other views. This is my favorite definition of apraxia. Apraxia…

Jaw Stabilization for the Lateral Lisp

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I am working with a first grader who completely shifts his jaw to the left when he produces lateralized “Sh” and “Ch”. I am trying to work on his jaw, but it requires me to firmly give manual jaw stabilization even in isolation. Is it possible to change this strong habit of lateralizing the jaw? You are on the right track, but you are going about it in a less-than-optimum way. When we use manual jaw stabilization like you…