Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) can be a complex and difficult disorder and it can feel like you are on your own in trying to help your child. We understand accessing the best treatment can be difficult, especially when your local speech pathologist doesn’t feel like she (or he) has the necessary skills.
This website is designed to teach speech pathologists to deliver ReST treatment for a range of children but it is important to note that not all children will benefit from the treatment. We have tested the treatment on children aged 4-13 who have a main diagnosis of CAS without many other complications and children aged 8-14 with dysarthria arising from cerebral palsy. If your child differs from these groups in the research, you should discuss their suitability with your speech pathologist.
On the Resources Page you will find a Readiness-checklist which can be taken to a discussion with your speech pathologist – for you both to decide whether this is the right treatment for your child.
More information for families about the ReST treatment can be found in the ReST-Parent-handout which you can download and print.
It is important to note that ReST treatment is best delivered by a speech pathologist for two reasons:
- Our research shows that generally, parents did not like providing ReST treatment to their children.
- The research also shows that some of the judgements we ask the clinician to make are quite difficult to learn in a short time.
We are working on improving access to ReST treatment through this website and other projects. If you would like to help us improve the treatment, we would like to hear from you.
A general summary of the best available information on CAS generally (as of January 2024) is also available to download: CAS_evidence_brief_2024
For support from other families you might like to contact Apraxia-Kids, the North American not-for-profit who run an excellent website www.apraxia-kids.org which contains lots of useful information about CAS and links with other families who have similar experiences to you.
We have also appeared in a number of podcasts exploring CAS and ReST treatment. These include:
You may also be interested in the podcast we made in 2019 about speech development and literacy. Happy listening