Children who have apraxia or dyspraxia are born with the condition, but it is less obvious in babies who have not got to the age where they are expected to talk.
But it is helpful to detect babies who may have dyspraxia as early as possible, so that you can encourage stimulation to minimise the symptoms. This will give a child the best chance to learn to eat and talk well.
From the time a baby is just a few weeks old they start to make little ‘talking’ noises (as well as using different kinds of cries for different purposes). The early noises are usually cooing sounds, which are just vowel sounds (like long oo, ah, ow, or sounds). From just a few weeks old you can make the sounds back to your baby and set up a pattern like a conversation!
As they grow they start to use a variety of sounds to make noises of all kinds, using all different parts of their mouth and lips. They experiment with changing from one sound to another, and changing the pitch range (the ups and downs in the tune).
From about six weeks old, and sometimes earlier, a baby can smile in response to a smile, and poke out his tongue to imitate. As they get older they enjoy imitating other facial movements.
Babies with dyspraxia usually have more difficulty copying facial expressions. They usually coo and babble less than other babies. Their range of sounds is more limited and they tend not to change the sound as often.
Babies with dyspraxia usually drool or dribble a lot and they have difficulty learning to keep their saliva in their mouth.
Very often children with dyspraxia have a history of being difficult to feed. They often are not able to breastfeed without excellent lactation consultant help, and even then they may be unsuccessful. These babies have difficulty latching on and staying on.
Mothers who persevere can suffer very painful nipples and often feel that they have no option but to bottle feed. Even then, some babies will require experimentation with different teats before they are able to suck and swallow easily.
This does not mean that every baby who has difficulty breastfeeding will have dyspraxia – but it is one piece of information taken into account with the rest of a child’s history that can point in this direction.
Usually at about eight to ten months they start to learn to copy animal noises that you teach them, or cars and trucks and fire-engines, sometimes accurate, sometimes less so. This repertoire will steadily grow. They will become more accurate as they go, as they learn to make new sounds. Children with dyspraxia can be later to make these attempts and usually have a more limited range.
Babies with apraxia or dyspraxia often have a limited number of speech sounds that they can make. Many of their early noises and words will be vowel sounds with just a few consonants. They can have difficulty manoeuvring the parts of their mouth and tongue to make some sounds.
Babies can start saying early words anywhere from about nine or ten months. Some early talkers will have a repertoire of words by their first birthday. Most children acquire the beginnings of speech between one and two, with an escalation of vocabulary between about eighteen months and two years. By the time they are two they should have a ‘bank’ of at least 50 words, including some action words (verbs, such as “go”) and be starting to put two words together.
Babies with dyspraxia will often be later than other children in starting to use real words or in developing this starting ‘bank’ of words. When they do, their words will often be missing sounds, such as the first or last sound in words. It is perfectly normal for children not to be able to say all words accurately – there are sounds that are only expected to be learnt later! But children with dyspraxia will have a more limited range than other children.