Apraxia, (Poor Skilled Movements) A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

Apraxia is a poorly understood neurological disorder of the brain and nervous system in which a person is not able to do tasks or movements when asked, even though:
1. The request or command is understood
2. They are willing to do the task
3. The muscles needed to do the task work properly
4. The task may have already been learned
People who have it find it difficult or impossible to make certain motor movements, even though their muscles are normal.
Milder forms of apraxia are known as dyspraxia.
Apraxia can happen in a number of different forms.
1. One form is orofacial apraxia.
People with orofacial apraxia are not able to willingly do certain movements needing facial muscles
They are not be able to lick their lips or wink.
2. One form of apraxia affects a person's capability to purposefully move arms and legs.
3. With apraxia of speech a person finds it difficult or not possible to move his or her mouth and tongue to speak.
This occurs, even though the person has the desire to speak and the mouth and tongue muscles are physically capable of forming words.
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is known as a motor speech disorder.
Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words.
Causes
Apraxia is caused by injury to the brain.
When apraxia forms in a person who was previously capable to do the tasks or abilities, it is called acquired apraxia.
The most frequent causes of acquired apraxia are:
1. Brain tumor
2. Disorder that causes gradual degeneration of the brain and nervous system (neurodegenerative illness)
3. Dementia
4. Stroke
5. Traumatic brain injury
Apraxia may also be observed at birth.
Symptoms occur as the child grows and develops.
Symptoms

A person with apraxia is not able to put together the correct muscle movements.
At times, a totally different word or action is used than the one the person had intended to speak or make.
The person is often conscious of the mistake.
1. Buccofacial or orofacial apraxia.
There is inability to carry out movements of the face on demand, such as licking the lips, sticking out the tongue, or whistling.
2. Ideational apraxia.
There is no capability to perform learned, complex tasks in the correct order, such as putting on socks before putting on shoes.
3. Ideomotor apraxia.
There is inability to voluntarily do a learned task when given the necessary objects.
4. Limb-kinetic apraxia.
There is difficulty making precise movements with an arm or leg.
When diagnosing apraxia, experts may look for weakness or difficulties with language understanding.
Both of these are indicative of other disorders and their presence would help exclude apraxia.
CT or MRI scans of the brain may help show a tumor, stroke, or other brain injury
Treatment:
In some patients who have acquired apraxia, the illness will recover spontaneously.
This is not the situation with developmental apraxia of speech which does not go away without treatment.
During treatment, therapists will direct on:
1. Repeating sounds over and over to teach mouth movements
2. Slowing down the person's speech
3. Teaching different techniques to help with communication and movement
4. Recognition and treatment of depression is important for people with apraxia.
To help with communication, family and friends should:
1. Avoid giving complex directions.
2. Use simple phrases to avoid misunderstandings.
3. Speak in a normal tone of voice.
Other tips for daily living are:
1. Maintain a relaxed, calm environment.
2. Take time to show people with apraxia how to do a task and give enough time for them to do so.
3. Do not ask them to repeat the task.
4. Suggest other ways to do the same things
5. Provide communication aids such as computer

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Apraxi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Jul 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370037902

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Apraxia,

(Poor Skilled Movements)

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2017 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Apraxia, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What The patient Need to Treat Apraxia)

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If the patient would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank the patient for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 amazon kindle books and 200 into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Apraxia

What is Apraxia?

Apraxia is a poorly understood neurological disorder of the brain and nervous system in which a person is not able to do tasks or movements when asked, even though:

1. The request or command is understood

2. They are willing to do the task

3. The muscles needed to do the task work properly

4. The task may have already been learned

People who have it find it difficult or impossible to make certain motor movements, even though their muscles are normal.

Milder forms of apraxia are known as dyspraxia.

Apraxia can happen in a number of different forms.

1. One form is orofacial apraxia.

People with orofacial apraxia are not able to willingly do certain movements needing facial muscles

They are not be able to lick their lips or wink.

2. One form of apraxia affects a person's capability to purposefully move arms and legs (Limb-kinetic apraxia).

3. With apraxia of speech a person finds it difficult or not possible to move his or her mouth and tongue to speak.

This occurs, even though the person has the desire to speak and the mouth and tongue muscles are physically capable of forming words.

4. Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is known as a motor speech disorder.

Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words.

This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis.

The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue required for speech.

The child discerns what he or she wants to say, but his or her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements require to say those words.

Different Types of Apraxia of Speech

There are two