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Blog post updated on 25th July 2022.
Verbal dyspraxia, also known as speech dyspraxia or oral dyspraxia, is a type of dyspraxia that can affect a person’s speech. Different terms for it include developmental verbal dyspraxia (DVD), childhood apraxia for speech (CAS – apraxia is another term for dyspraxia), or developmental apraxia of speech (DAS).
This disorder can show when a child is first learning to speak. The child may “have difficulty planning and co-ordinating their movement of muscles used” such as their tongue, lips, jaw and palate “to produce the right speech sounds or words. There is no physical damage to the child’s nerves or muscles used in speech because they are affected by the brain.
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Parents who are concerned about their child’s speech should book an appointment with their GP. The GP may refer the child to a speech and language therapist (SaLT). The parent and child can then visit the SaLT in private.
Adults who have verbal dyspraxia may want to visit GPs and SaLTs alone or accompanied by another adult.
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This includes speech therapy that SaLTs carry out. This might be more beneficial for children who have mild verbal dyspraxia. People who have more severe verbal dyspraxia could find sign language more helpful.
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If you experience any of these signs of dyspraxia, try taking our online dyspraxia quiz.
Nat Hawley, our Head of Community, has hosted these webinars about developmental language disorder (DLD) and verbal dyspraxia. The webinars discuss the symptoms of each diagnosis. These webinars are not intended to diagnose DLD or verbal dyspraxia. Only a medical professional can make a diagnosis.