Speech Apraxia symptoms can be deceptive if you are dealing with a child. This is because some children are just delayed in learning to speak properly. It is not uncommon to find a child who stutters, fumbles with his words, and blanks out when trying to remember a specific word. This makes self-diagnosis using Speech Apraxia symptoms a little risky. You will need to have the doctor confirm your suspicions and doubts through a battery of tests that specifically check for Speech Apraxia symptoms in your child.

Nevertheless, for ease of mind or to confirm your intuition that something is just not right with your child, here are the Speech Apraxia symptoms. Do not be alarmed if you recognize one or two of the Speech Apraxia symptoms. Again, it is not indicative yet of the Apraxia disorder.

The most specific and obvious of the Speech Apraxia symptoms is the inability to pronounce words, especially long words. It is not because of not wanting to speak, but because the muscles used for speaking are not getting the right instructions from the brain.

Developmental Apraxia, also known as childhood speech Apraxia, is already present at birth, but will only show Speech Apraxia symptoms when the child is expected to start talking and form sounds. Children with Developmental Apraxia can understand what you are saying very well, they just cannot express themselves. Thus, one of the Speech Apraxia symptoms is less babbling as a baby, and as a toddler, the child will have a hard time putting the correct stress on words.

Another of the Speech Apraxia symptoms is distortion of sound, especially the vowels. As for the consonants, there is a tendency to not say the consonants at the start and end of some words. The child will also have a hard time putting syllables together. He or she will struggle to say the word, and may end up giving up altogether.

You may also notice that the child will tend to repeat himself, similar to stuttering. One difference with a child who stutters and one who has childhood speech Apraxia is that a child with childhood speech Apraxia will not be consistent in his attempts to speak. There will be times when he can say the word very clearly and easily, while at other times, he will grope with the same word.

At the same time that he has problems with speech, he will also exhibit other Speech Apraxia symptoms like difficulty with motor skills and simple mouth movements like chewing or swallowing. His hand and eye coordination will be clumsy and ineffective.
Finally, you will notice that the child will use only words he is comfortable in saying. Children with Speech Apraxia symptoms have very limited vocabulary, and he will not be able to speak in grammatically correct sentences.

Fortunately, if the Speech Apraxia symptoms are recognized and speech therapy is sought, then the child will outgrow this disorder, and learn to speak normally.