Suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech (S-CAS) is a term used when a child demonstrates characteristics consistent with CAS, but is not yet able to complete the types of speech tasks needed to make a definitive diagnosis. This is common in very young children or children with limited verbal output.

Children with suspected CAS may show signs such as a limited sound inventory, difficulty imitating speech, inconsistent speech errors, vowel distortions, or challenges combining sounds and syllables. When CAS is suspected, early intervention is recommended rather than waiting for a definitive diagnosis. Treatment focuses on improving speech motor planning and providing the intensive practice needed to support speech development while the child's skills continue to emerge.

A CAS intensive is a short-term period of frequent, individualized therapy designed to accelerate progress in children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. During an intensive, your child will attend multiple therapy sessions each week, allowing for the high number of practice opportunities needed to improve motor planning and speech production.

Sessions are highly structured, engaging, and tailored to your child's specific speech goals. Parents can expect regular communication, coaching, and home practice recommendations to help support carryover between sessions. Because children with CAS learn through repetition and consistent practice, intensives often help establish momentum and build skills more quickly than less frequent therapy schedules.

Every child responds differently, but the goal of an intensive is to maximize practice, strengthen speech motor patterns, and support meaningful improvements in communication.

Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) often make the most progress when they receive frequent, intensive practice. While weekly therapy can be effective, the time between sessions may limit opportunities to strengthen and maintain new motor speech patterns.

A CAS intensive increases the frequency of therapy, allowing your child to practice target words and speech movements multiple times each week. This concentrated schedule helps build motor memory, reduce the need to "relearn" skills between sessions, and create momentum for faster progress.

Intensives also provide opportunities for more repetitions, more individualized feedback, and greater consistency in treatment. For many children, this leads to improved speech accuracy, increased confidence, and stronger carryover of skills into everyday communication.

A CAS intensive is not meant to replace ongoing therapy but rather to provide a focused period of increased practice that can help accelerate progress and complement the therapy your child is already receiving.

Sessions are individualized based on your child's needs, but most sessions are built around the principles of motor learning and Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC), an evidence-based treatment approach designed specifically for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

DTTC focuses on helping children learn the movement patterns needed for clear speech. Rather than practicing individual sounds in isolation, therapy targets functional and meaningful words and phrases that are important to your child. The clinician provides varying levels of support, beginning with simultaneous productions ("say it with me") and gradually reducing cues as your child becomes more successful and independent.

Throughout the session, your child will receive frequent opportunities to practice target words and phrases with individualized cueing that may include visual, verbal, gestural, and tactile supports. Sessions are engaging and motivating, but also highly structured to maximize the number of successful repetitions needed for motor learning.

The goal is not simply to produce a word correctly once, but to build a stable motor plan that allows your child to produce words more accurately, consistently, and independently over time.

Yes! We welcome it! We do ask that you restrict therapy attendance to one parent/guardian to minimize distractions. Siblings and other family members are welcome to wait in our office or outside.

CAS Intensive sessions are billed at our standard therapy rate of $55 per 30-minute session. The total cost of the program depends on the number of sessions scheduled each week.

Families may choose between 3–5 sessions per week during the 6-week intensive. Payment is made per session, and Step Up for Students Unique Abilities Scholarship funds may be used for eligible families.

Please contact us to discuss scheduling options and determine the frequency that best fits your child's needs and your family's goals.