Childhood apraxia of speech therapy in Dubai

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. A child with apraxia knows what they want to say, but their brain has difficulty planning and coordinating the movements of the lips, jaw and tongue needed to say it. The result is speech that can be very hard to understand, even for the people closest to them.

Motor speech is one of my main clinical interests. I am trained in PROMPT, DTTC (Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing) and the Kaufman Protocol, and I support children with apraxia and their families in Dubai.

Ask about your child · Parent guide

Signs of childhood apraxia of speech

Every child is different, and only an assessment can tell you what is behind a speech difficulty. Signs that can point to apraxia include:

Limited babbling as a baby, and first words arriving late
Saying the same word differently each time they try it
Visible effort or “groping” of the mouth when trying to say a word
Difficulty moving smoothly from one sound or syllable to the next, especially in longer words
Words that come out easily in play or song, but not when asked to say them
Errors on vowels as well as consonants
Speech that sounds choppy or has unusual stress and rhythm
Understanding far more than they can say

Apraxia or speech delay?

Many children with a speech delay follow the usual pattern of development, just later. Their errors tend to be consistent and predictable. In apraxia, the main difficulty is planning movement, so errors are often inconsistent and progress is slower with traditional speech therapy. Telling the two apart matters, because apraxia responds best to therapy built on the principles of motor learning.

In very young children, apraxia can be hard to confirm, and it may first be described as “suspected CAS”. Therapy does not need to wait for a firm diagnosis.

How I support children with apraxia

I start by understanding the whole child: how they communicate now, what they can already say, and what is getting in the way. Therapy then focuses on a small set of words and phrases that matter in your child’s day, practised many times with the right support.

DTTC: your child watches and listens, then says a word with me, with cues that are faded as their movements become more accurate.
PROMPT: touch cues on the face and jaw guide the movements for speech.
Kaufman Protocol: words are shaped from simpler forms your child can already say towards the full word.
Other ways to communicate, such as signs or pictures, alongside speech, so your child can be understood while their speech develops.

Practice at home

Motor skills are learned through repetition. Short, frequent practice in everyday moments helps far more than occasional long sessions, so I work closely with parents and show you how to practise target words naturally at home.

Questions parents ask

Will my child grow out of apraxia of speech?

Childhood apraxia of speech is not something children usually outgrow on their own, which is why specialised motor-speech therapy matters. Progress varies from child to child, and frequent practice makes a real difference.

How is childhood apraxia of speech diagnosed?

A speech-language therapist assesses how your child produces sounds, syllables and words, how consistent their errors are and how they move between sounds. In very young children with few words, it can take some time and therapy to be confident about the diagnosis.

Which therapy approaches do you use for apraxia?

I am trained in DTTC, PROMPT and the Kaufman Protocol, and I choose and combine them based on your child’s profile and how they respond.