"Overcoming Apraxia" by Laura Baskall Smith
This past weekend I sat down to read Laura Baskall Smith’s (also known as SLP Mommy of Apraxia) book titled “Overcoming Apraxia.” I loved it so much that I finished it front to back in one sitting! I was looking forward to reading this book because not only is Laura Baskall Smith and SLP who specializes in childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), she is also a mother to a little girl who has CAS. Therefore, this book provided credible explanations and information on CAS intervention and treatments while also touching the heart of a reader with her more personal discussion of CAS. This book was a perfect fit for me as I have a close family member who has CAS and I am also on the road to becoming an SLP. However, I highly recommend buying this book if you are an SLP and have apraxia on your caseload or if you have a close family member or friend with apraxia.
I don’t want to spoil the book experience for you as a reader so I will just cover some of my favourite quotes and takeaways below:
“Therapy for apraxia can help other speech disorders; however, approaches that do not target the underlying speech motor difficulty are not likely to be effective for apraxia.”
“Many speech-language pathologists will need postgraduate training or resources in order to treat apraxia effectively.”
“My daughter has taught me that the only disability in life is a bad attitude, and that regardless of any challenge, we should wake up each day with a smile and be happy to be alive.”
“A lack of babbling or limited babbling within the first year of life can be an early red flag for CAS or other speech/language issues.”
“Unless SLPs have sought out additional training in apraxia, it is very unlikely they have the background knowledge and skills to effectively treat it.”
“Today there are more therapy approaches for CAS that have been shown to have success in the research with the strongest level of evidence for DTTC (Dynamic Temporal Tactile Cueing) and related integral stimulation based approaches, and ReST (Rapid Syllable Transition Treatment).”
“I always encourage parents to observe their child’s classroom and interview the staff and teachers. Get a feel for it and then listen to your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.”
“Having a child with apraxia makes one wonder how we ever learn to talk at all - so much is involved.”
“Appropriate therapy for apraxia should always, first and foremost, inspire and support a child’s motivation. It is essential that children are motivated to achieve.”
In response to an SLP critiquing her parenting: “I wanted to tell her that I was the perfect mother before I had actual kids with actual problems, but I let it go.”
“We speech therapy professionals need to be supporting parents just as much as we provide support to the children.”
“Sometimes a child may be able to initiate a motor plan but get “stuck” in one.”
“it’s hard for little children to explain big emotions. Emotions like jealousy and neglect aren’t always in their vocabulary.”
Overall, I loved this book and found it to be an incredibly useful resource both personally and professionally.
Find it on amazon.ca by clicking here or amazon.com.
-S
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