23/11/2025
🩵🩷🤍 Thank goodness, we have way more knowledge today, about movement and sensory needs, and table top work is almost never used in early intervention or with busy little bodies
https://www.facebook.com/share/1U2zLkdpNV/?mibextid=wwXIfre about tnti
One thing I wish my speech therapist had understood when I was growing up with childhood apraxia of speech is that I needed to move. Being restricted to a chair and pushed to maintain eye contact didn’t support my speech, it actually made it harder. I’m not autistic, but as someone with apraxia, eye contact can be challenging because my body naturally relies on movement and visual shifts to coordinate certain sounds. Motor supports motor. That’s true for so many of us with apraxia of speech.
When I wasn’t allowed to move, everything tightened. My speech got harder. My frustration climbed. Anxiety hit. And eventually I’d shut down altogether. As a kid, I didn’t have the language to explain any of this. I just knew that when I tried to move, my SLP redirected me toward what she saw as “socially appropriate” motions, tapping my hands or feet, which didn’t help me at all. To her, that was enough. To my nervous system, it wasn’t.
This is why I always come back to the importance of supporting the whole child. Apraxia of speech doesn’t exist in isolation, motor planning challenges often show up across the body. And practices that have been normalized for generations can still be harmful, even when rooted in good intentions.
When we know better, we do better. And kids deserve better.
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