Developmental verbal dyspraxia

Developmental verbal dyspraxia, abbreviated DVD and also known as childhood apraxia of speech or developmental apraxia of speech, is a motor speech disorder in which a person has trouble saying sounds, syllables and words. The difficulty is not caused by muscle weakness or paralysis. Instead the brain has problems planning the movements of the lips, jaw and tongue needed for speech, so the individual knows what they want to say but struggles to coordinate the muscles that say it. The exact cause is usually unknown, though a family history of communication disorders is common and the gene FOXP2 has been implicated in many studies; where it is the cause the condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, although roughly 75 percent of those cases are de novo. There is no cure, but appropriate, intensive intervention can bring significant improvement. This entry is a record of the condition, not medical advice.