What is Motor Planning Speech Disorder?

If your child shows signs of extreme stuttering, they may be suffering from a motor planning speech disorder. Now you might ask yourself, what is a motor planning speech disorder? No need to ponder any longer, our experts at SpeechEasy are here to help you understand the basics of this condition.

Motor Planning Speech Disorder

Speech motor planning is the ability to come up with an idea, plan how to say the idea, and then verbally express it. A motor planning speech disorder is present when a child has difficulty producing speech because of problems with motor planning or the muscle tone needed to speak. This could one of the causes of stuttering for your child. There are two major types of motor speech disorders: dysarthria and apraxia.

What is Dysarthria?

Dysarthria is a neurologically based motor speech disorder caused by damage to the central or peripheral nervous system that results in slow, imprecise, and distorted speech. Certain traumatic injuries can cause this, such as:

• Brain tumors
• Stroke
• Degenerative brain disorders

What is Apraxia?

Apraxia of speech is a neurogenic speech disorder in which an individual is unable to make a voluntary movement, like speaking, despite normal muscle function. Two main types of apraxia of speech include acquired and developmental/childhood. Acquired apraxia of speech is caused by a stroke, head injury, tumor, or illness affecting the brain. Developmental/childhood apraxia of speech is present from birth, but the cause is usually unknown.

What are the symptoms of a motor planning speech disorder?

A child with a motor planning speech disorder may appear to want to form words but is incapable of doing so. When diagnosing a motor planning speech disorder, doctors would test for the following signs:

Dysarthria symptoms

• Slurred speech
• Varied rate of speech
• Difficulty moving the tongue and facial muscles

Apraxia symptoms

• Inconsistent speech sound errors
• Difficulty repeating words accurately
• Difficulty producing multisyllabic words

How are motor speech disorders treated?

Specific treatment for motor planning speech disorders is determined by a child’s speech and language therapist and a medical professional. SpeechEasy’s auditory feedback device and stuttering device are medically proven to assist any age with stuttering.

Causes of Stuttering | SpeechEasy

There are various causes of stuttering, but SpeechEasy has a multitude of solutions to help reduce its presence. Whether it’s a motor planning speech disorder or psychogenic stuttering, we dedicate ourselves to assisting you and your family with our combination of proven technology and techniques. Worn in one ear and similar in appearance to a hearing aid, SpeechEasy has helped thousands increase their ability to communicate effectively and confidently. To learn more about how we can help you or your child, visit our website.