I just realized that I actually never blogged about one of my favorite resources that I have made. I created the Apraxia in Spanish Therapy Workbook: Intensive Intervention for Early Readers back in 2016. This resource took me about five months to make because I wanted to make something that would stand the test of time. Students inspire the best resources. I worked with one student with apraxia who was in kindergarten learning how to read. When I observed the student in the classroom, I watched how the classroom teacher taught reading. Since my student was bilingual, he was learning how to read in Spanish and the way that reading is taught in Spanish is different than reading is taught in English.
First, maybe we should talk about what apraxia is and define it before we get going!
What is apraxia?
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that affects a child’s ability to plan and coordinate the movements of the lips, tongue, and jaw needed for speech. It’s not a problem with muscle weakness or hearing, but rather with the way the brain sends signals to the speech muscles.
Here are some key points about CAS:
- Symptoms:
- Inconsistent errors in sound production, even within the same word or sentence.
- Difficulty saying certain sounds or sound combinations.
- Prosody issues, such as abnormal rhythm, stress, and intonation.
- Frustration and avoidance of communication.
- Causes: The exact cause of CAS is unknown, but it’s thought to be due to a neurological difference in the way the brain plans and coordinates speech movements.
- Diagnosis: CAS is typically diagnosed by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) through a combination of assessments, including observation of speech production, standardized tests, and medical evaluations.
- Treatment: The main treatment for CAS is speech therapy, which can help the child learn to better control their speech muscles and develop compensatory strategies for communication.
Here are some additional things to keep in mind about CAS:
- CAS is not necessarily a language disorder. Children with CAS understand language and can communicate nonverbally. Some experts do think there’s a language component. This needs to be researched more.
- CAS can vary in severity from mild to severe.
- With early intervention and appropriate treatment, most children with CAS can make significant progress in developing their speech skills.
Motor Planning in Apraxia
Motor planning is implicated in apraxia. That means it’s challenging for the students to sequence the motor movements to make words. It helps students with apraxia to start with words broken down into syllables. Teach them the syllables and then how to move from one syllable to the other. Here’s where Spanish is great because there’s so many syllables and it is how reading is taught too!
Spanish Reading Syllables
In Spanish, reading is taught using syllables. I noticed how the teachers were teaching reading and to me it seemed like I could incorporate some of what they were doing in their instruction in my speech therapy with my student with apraxia.
I organized all of the syllable prompts in the pack in the same way as the reading instruction I observed in kindergarten. Here are the consonants in the order they are taught:
- M — ma me mi mo mu
- P — pa pe pi po pu
- L — la le li lo lu
- S — sa se si so su
- N — na ne ni no nu
- D — da de di do du
- T — ta te ti to tu
- C — ca que qui co cu
- F — fa fe fi fo fu
- B — ba be bi bo bu
Syllable Shapes
Can you tell that this is a huge pack? It is over 100 pages long. I also wanted to include a variety of syllable shapes in the pack. Here is a list of the syllable shapes included:
- CV
- CV CV moving to CVCV
- CVCV
- CVC & CVV
- VCV
Another thing I like about this resource is that it is perfect for homework. Spanish-speaking and bilingual families will recognize the way that the the pattern of syllables. It might be the way they might have also learned how to read. The way this resource is organized will be familiar to families. See below for the progression of part of the “ma me mi mo mu” section. This resource is 120+ pages long!
Just yesterday I re-did this entire resource from top to bottom. Now it contains a ton of apraxia flashcards! I like to go back and revise products periodically and this resource was up for a facelift. I know you will enjoy it and it will make therapy for apraxia so much easier and fun. Buy it here: Apraxia in Spanish Therapy Workbook: Intensive Intervention for Early Readers
OTHER INTERESTING POSTS AND RESOURCES
- SLPs Boost Spanish Language with Printable Multisyllabic Word Flashcards
- Upgrade Your Speech Therapy in Spanish: 5 Star Articulation Cards
- Mastering ‘El’ and ‘La’ in Spanish: Article Task Cards
- Apraxia in Spanish Workbook
- Multisyllabic Word Puzzles in Spanish
- Spanish Articulation Mystery Puzzles
- Learning Color Names in Spanish and English: Red Flags for Learning Disabilities
- Spanish Phonology Minimal Pair Flashcards
- How to Teach the Spanish Flap R and the Spanish Trill RR
- Spanish Articulation Phonology Screener
Here are some resources for parents and caregivers of children with CAS:
- The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/childhood-apraxia-of-speech/
- Apraxia Kids: https://www.apraxia-kids.org/
