Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia

Abstract

Children with developmental verbal dyspraxia have difficulty in making and co-ordinating the precise movements required for the production of clear speech, and yet there is no evidence of damage to nerves or muscles. They have difficulty in producing individual speech sounds and in sequencing sounds together in words. As a result their speech is often unintelligible even to family members. The speech disorder is the predominant presentation, but children with developmental verbal dyspraxia may also have oro-motor dyspraxia, affecting their ability to make and co-ordinate the movements of the larynx, lips, tongue and palate and /or generalised dyspraxia affecting gross and fine body movements.