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What is the difference between speech disorder, speech apraxia and speech delay?

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Speech disorder is an all inclusive term for a child who isn’t able to speak, articulate speech effectively or is unable to use speech when needed.

Speech delay in a child prevents the child from being able to speak and use words he/she typically should for his/her age. This is due to a delay in speech milestones in the child.

Speech apraxia is a condition where the child has all the physical elements (oro-motor structures) to speak. But, is unable to use them effectively in order to produce speech sounds adequately.

All three conditions described above refer to problems with speech in general, but with different causes and effects. These are not diseases by themselves and can’t be used to explain a diagnosis for Autism. These conditions can occur in a multitude of other developmental disorders too.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this guide is for information purposes only. Please consult a qualified health practitioner for safe management.

If you have questions about Autism, Down Syndrome, ADHD, or other intellectual disabilities, or have concerns about developmental delays in a child, the Nayi Disha team is here to help. For any questions or queries, please contact our FREE Helpline at 844-844-8996. You can call or what’s app us. Our counselors speak different languages including English, Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, and Bengali.

Do all children with Autism have problems with speech?

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There are many speech-related challenges in children with Autism. They are referred to as Speech Disorder, Speech Delay, Speech Apraxia, Expressive Speech Disorder or Developmental Language Disorder. Not every child with Autism will have issues with speech to the same degree due to large range of variations from one child to another. This is because some children may regain speech as they grow older. Hence classifying speech problems as a definitive co-morbidity for Autism is not appropriate. Rather speech impairment has more to do with behavior complexities (due to problems in social communication in children with Autism) than speech impairments as an isolated problem in the child.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this guide is for information purposes only. Please consult a qualified health practitioner for safe management.

If you have questions about Autism, Down Syndrome, ADHD, or other intellectual disabilities, or have concerns about developmental delays in a child, the Nayi Disha team is here to help. For any questions or queries, please contact our FREE Helpline at 844-844-8996. You can call or what’s app us. Our counselors speak different languages including English, Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, and Bengali.

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