Clarisse Marquis Colvard earned her Doctorate of Speech-Language Pathology in 2018. She has over 40 years' experience as a speech language pathologist. Clarisse developed the speech-language pathology program at Thomason Hospital in 1991 and in 1994 she founded the Silva Clinic, an outpatient clinical habilitation and rehabilitation center serving all ages and demographics. Clarisse and her colleagues continue to provide individualized speech-language pathology services which empower the patient and family and facilitate excellent patient outcomes.
APRAXIA
At Silva Clinic we are always building connections.
WHAT IS APRAXIA?
According to ASHA, "To speak, messages must go from your brain to your mouth. These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. When you have apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through correctly due to brain damage. You might not be able to move your lips or tongue the right way to say sounds. Sometimes, you might not be able to speak at all."
Information obtained from ASHA, Apraxia of Speech in Adults (asha.org)
SIGNS OF APRAXIA:
Some signs of Apraxia is producing sounds incorrectly. This might might cause you to say something different than what you wanted to say.
you have apraxia of speech, you will have problems saying sounds correctly. This may cause you to say something very different than what you meant. You may even make up words. For example, you may say "chicken" instead of "kitchen." Or, you may say something that might not make sense, like "bipem," even though you wanted to say “kitchen.” You may know that what you say is wrong and try to fix it. Sometimes you will get it right, but sometimes you will still say something else. This can be very frustrating.
If you have apraxia, you may experience these symptoms:
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Have trouble imitating and saying sounds on your own. You may add new sounds, leave sounds out, or say sounds the wrong way.
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Be able to say something the right way one time but the wrong way the next time.
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Move your tongue and lips to get them into the right place as you try to say sounds. This is called groping.
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Speak more slowly.
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Be able to say things that you say all the time—like "Hello" or "How are you?"—without much trouble. This is called automatic speech.
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Not be able to say any sounds at all. This may happen in severe cases.
Apraxia can happen due to a head injury or disease that affects the brain, such as:
Please reach out to us if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
