Improving Phonological Awareness to Make Progress With Apraxia

Intensive Phonological Awareness (IPA) programming offers a promising avenue for children with apraxia of speech (CAS), a motor speech disorder. This training goes beyond traditional speech therapy by fostering awareness of the sound structures that form the foundation of language. Often overlooked in early speech development, phonological awareness is critical for effective communication and literacy. The success of IPA in children with speech-language impairments suggests its utility for those with CAS.

IPA isn’t specially designed for CAS, but studies indicate that its application can lead to significant improvements in speech production. As children with CAS struggle with planning and coordinating the movements necessary for speech, IPA’s holistic approach can help them not only with speech clarity but also with the development of reading and spelling skills. This synergy of speech and literacy support is particularly beneficial as it addresses multiple facets of a child’s communication abilities.

Key Takeaways

• IPA enhances speech development by building phonological awareness.
• The training is adaptable and shows promising results in children with CAS.
• Literacy skills may also improve alongside speech with IPA.

Principles of Intensive Phonological Awareness (IPA)

Phonological Awareness Explained

When we talk about phonological awareness, we’re discussing a child’s ability to hear and manipulate the sounds of language. It’s a cornerstone for reading and spelling. For instance, recognizing rhymes, breaking words into syllables, and blending sounds to make words are all essential skills.

Purchasing the IPA manual grants access to 100+ downloadable resources, game boards, word lists, implementation checklists, and more than 20 sets of colorful picture cards, making it easy to implement the program. The book includes detailed lesson plans that are clearly broken down, so all you need to do is print the provided flashcards. This setup ensures that you can start the program quickly and efficiently, offering structured and effective phonological awareness instruction.

IPA Integrative Approaches

This phonological awareness program supports young learners in grades K–2, particularly those who need extra reading help or have language impairments. IPA appears effective for children with less severe CAS. The program divides into four segments—rhyme, initial sounds, final sounds, and segmenting and blending, each containing 9 lessons.

• Rhyme: The IPA developers started with rhyme, considering it the simplest level, to help children build confidence and feel successful.
• Initial Sounds: Identifying and expressing word pairs that begin with the same sounds. For example, sun and sock.
• Final Sounds: Understanding and using word pairs that end with the same sounds. For example, bus and mouse.
• Segmenting and Blending: Segmenting involves breaking down words into individual sounds. For example, segmenting the word “moon” involves breaking it down into its individual phonemes: /m/ /oo/ /n/. Each sound is articulated separately to help a child understand the distinct components of the word. Blending is the process of combining those sounds to form words. It involves listening to the separate sounds and then smoothly joining them to create the word. Blending is crucial for developing reading skills, as it helps children understand how sounds work together to form words.

These skills are crucial for reading and spelling as they help children understand the relationship between letters and sounds in words.

Training Techniques for IPA for Apraxia

Researchers have conducted studies showing that children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) can significantly benefit from IPA programs. These studies often employ controlled designs to exhibit changes in the child’s speech and literacy abilities.

Integrated Phonological Awareness (IPA) combines speech therapy with literacy interventions. When helping someone with apraxia, it’s crucial to choose exercises tailored to their specific needs. Let’s dig into some tried-and-true methods and activities.

Incorporating apraxia motor speech goals into IPA programming can be highly effective, especially when tactile supports are used. Tactile cues, such as touch cues or hand gestures, can help guide the child in producing the correct sounds during speech exercises. By integrating these tactile supports into IPA activities, such as during rhyme or initial sound tasks, the child with apraxia can receive consistent, multi-sensory feedback. This approach not only reinforces motor planning but also enhances phonological awareness, leading to more significant progress in both areas.

Repetitive practice using the IPA program is highly beneficial for children with apraxia. The program strategically repeats target words across different practice areas, starting with the initial rhyme section and continuing through initial sounds, final sounds, and blending and segmenting activities. This repetition reinforces the motor patterns needed for clear speech, helping children with apraxia strengthen their ability to produce specific sounds consistently and accurately. The cumulative effect of repeated exposure to the same target words enhances overall speech clarity and confidence.

Positive Progress with IPA Programming for a Child with Apraxia

Unlike the Nuffield Dyspraxia Program and PROMPT, the IPA is very affordable and available on Amazon for under fifty dollars. Thus far, I have had a positive experience using the IPA program with a young child with less severe apraxia. At the start, he struggled to identify or express rhymes. After completing the 9 sessions on rhyming, he was 75% accurate in identifying and 100% in expressing rhymes. We’ve now started working on initial sounds, and after just three lessons, he’s already showing 92% accuracy in identifying word pairs with the same initial sounds. The structured approach of the IPA program has clearly supported his progress.

In my experience, children with apraxia and phonological disorders often show difficulty in reading and decoding as they get older. Using a program like IPA makes sense for establishing better foundations to hopefully avoid any struggle down the line.

Concluding Thoughts

Incorporating the Integrated Phonological Awareness (IPA) program into a child’s speech therapy routine can be transformative, especially when addressing phonological disorders like apraxia. The program’s structured approach, combined with repetitive practice across various phonological skills such as rhyming, initial and final sounds, and blending, reinforces sound production and clarity. This method not only strengthens a child’s phonological awareness but also builds their confidence and abilities in both speech and literacy, paving the way for long-term success in communication and reading.