The Apraxia is a neurological disease characterized by difficulty or inability to develop voluntary actions, although there are no organic reasons for the problem. This means that the person has the strength, the physical abilities and the desire to carry out the movements, but he is not able to do them.
According to DigoPaul, this disorder, which is also known as dyspraxia, implies a separation between the person’s thinking (who is aware of what he wants to do) and the execution of said idea in motion (he cannot control the action).
There are different types of apraxia, which vary according to their link with the action or movement to be performed. We can mention constitutional apraxia (a problem that has to do with spatial conception); the bucolingual apraxia, bucofacial or bucolinguofacial (disorders to move the lips or tongue); the ideational apraxia (the subject can not represent you in your mind and express in words related to movement the various steps); and ideomotor apraxia (ability to plan movement, but not to express what corresponds to it), among others.
The disease is usually detected in childhood, since the apraxic child reveals his dysfunction in physical education activities. On the other hand, the little one who suffers from apraxia may have problems doing his homework, handling study materials or writing correctly.
The person suffering from this disease understands what is asked of them, is willing to do it and has learned the task in advance, but cannot carry it out.
The causes that cause apraxia are mainly damage to the brain, in some cases people are born with that problem, when the disease develops in people who previously could carry out the skills that they cannot do with it, they are said to have apraxia acquired. This type of apraxia develops as a consequence of a brain tumor, stroke, nervous system condition, dementia, neurodegenerative disease, among others.
Apraxia of speech usually occurs along with aphasia, another language disorder. These problems can identify conditions in the nervous system or in the brain.
To identify if a person suffers from apraxia, it is enough to analyze their symptoms: inability to integrate the movements of the muscles in a fluid way, to perform an action different from that desired because the organism does not respond correctly to the person’s wishes, distortion, repetition or omission in speech sounds; difficulty expressing meaningful sentences, anomie, inability to use common, everyday phrases without difficulty.
People who suffer from apraxia are generally aware of their difficulty and the frustration that this fact causes them to fall into other mental illnesses, such as depression, for this reason psychological treatment for these individuals is essential, so that they do not stop. fall into the vicious circle to which all frustrations misdirected lead.
The medical studies that are carried out to detect apraxia are: computed tomography, electroencephalogram (EEG) or spinal tap, in order to detect if there are tumors or lesions in the brain, rule out epilepsy as the cause of the problem and any infection that may be affecting brain.
Some affected by this disease are not able to live independently, they need constant support and help to carry out their tasks. It is important that family members are aware of what activities they can do alone and for which they will need help; It is also important to avoid all those risky activities that may result in injuries of some kind and above all, try to provide the greatest possible safety to the patient.
Finally, it should be explained that childhood speech apraxia is a problem that develops in the motor system but the specific causes for which it begins are unknown. These children have great difficulty planning and carrying out things, especially producing specific movements with the language that allow them to express themselves clearly. Other names for this disease are: “verbal apraxia”, “childhood speech apraxia” and “verbal dyspraxia”.
Apraxia treatment may include physical therapy, intravenous immunoglobulin, and occupational therapy. If apraxia is a symptom of a neurological problem or other disorder, the pre-existing disease should be treated first.
