The first step in advocacy is awareness. If people are not aware of what CAS is, then how can they advocate for it? The more people who are aware of CAS, the more people who can help get access to treatment, or lobby for laws to be put in place to aid in federal funding for school programs. Awareness creates education, and with education comes acceptance. Every child who has CAS deserves to be heard and given the same opportunities as any other child.
Awareness and education also often foster a positive and supportive community. In The Handbook of Language and Speech Disorders by Jack Damico et.al, it is said that "communication access in AOS and CAS is usually most efficiently enhanced by making the communication environment supportive and providing training for clients, partners, and parents to use effective listening, multimodal communication, and adequate time for the interaction” (Damico et al., p. 379). A supportive community can offer many benefits to children with CAS, such as encouraging them to keep working hard and trying to speak. A well-educated support system can also give a child access to more forms of communication that they otherwise might not have known existed, such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices like a picture board or tablet. They could also use sign language or other communication alternatives to help the child speak for themselves, even if their mouths can't do it for them yet. (ASHA, 2025)
Having a stable support system can make all the difference in a child's life, and can make communication easier for a child with apraxia.
Laws and Legislation
Another way that advocacy has helped children with CAS is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This law is designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities and give them access to federal funding and financial aid assistance (U.S. Department of Education, 2025). This means that children with apraxia of speech are given the right to attend school and get the speech therapy, or access to a speech-language pathologist, that they need in order to thrive in an academic setting. With more access to Early Intervention/Individual Education Plans (IEP), more and more children are receiving the treatment that they need, and are being better supported in academic settings. Laws like Section 504 can also aid in earlier speech-language evaluations, which advances early intervention and kickstarts the treatment process for children with CAS sooner.
Advocacy is Support
Imagine you had something you needed to say in your head, but you had difficulty expressing it out loud. You might become frustrated. This is why advocacy is important, because we can give a voice to children with CAS who might have trouble articulating their own words. A quote from the journal: Language delay and behavioral/emotional problems in toddlers: findings from two developmental clinics by Leslie Rescorla et.al, states that children who require speech-language therapy, like children with CAS, have their fair share of struggles outside of the apraxia. Making the need for advocacy that much more crucial. It says"half of [the] children seen in speech-language clinics or classrooms for children with language problems have a behavioral or emotional disorder (Cohen, 2001). This association may develop because difficulty in processing and producing language can lead children to become unattentive, socially withdrawn, or aggressive" (Rescorla et al, 2007). This quote from the journal perfectly explains the frustrations that some children with CAS, or other speech disorders, might face. This reinforces the idea that a stable support group and accommodating community are essential to keeping children with CAS happy and healthy.
This is not to say that CAS and behavioral/emotional problems are always correlated, but rather to demonstrate another reason why support is important for children with CAS, as it gives them a source of comfort and security. We want all the children in our community to be happy, healthy, and able to self-advocate.
Darien's Story
Darien is a little boy who is overcoming CAS. One of the beautiful parts about Darien's story is his family's support for him at such a young age. His speech-language pathologist, as well, is one of his biggest supporters. Darien's story is a wonderful example of how his family helped him receive treatment. His speech-language pathologist's support demonstrates the importance of an accommodating, caring healthcare professional who has helped Darien greatly improve his speech. If every family of a child with CAS would spread this much awareness, then we could ensure that every child with CAS would find the tools they need to communicate on their own.
Please watch Darien's story here.
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