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Treating Apraxia in Non-Verbal Children

Franklin Silverman, Ph.D

December 8, 2003

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Question

I am currently working with a 6 year old child diagnosed with apraxia. He is essentially non-verbal at this time. I am desperately looking for treatment information. I have looked at many websites and most seem to be directed at children with more express

Answer

From the information you have provided, it seems likely that this child would benefit, at least temporarily, from using an augmentative communication (AAC) strategy, such as manual communication. It's crucial that such a child be able to communicate now and using an AAC strategy is likely to facilitate this happening. In about a third of such cases, the use of an augmentative approach (such as manual communication) tends to spontaneous facilitate the development of some speech (Silverman, Communication for the the development Speechless, 1995). Furthermore, the use of AAC is highly unlikely to reduce motivation for acquiring speech!


Franklin H. Silverman, Ph.D.
Professor of Speech Pathology
Marquette University
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


franklin silverman

Franklin Silverman, Ph.D


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