Chicagoland Walk for Childhood Apraxia of Speech
by ASHLEIGH on OCTOBER 11, 2012
In 2009, three Chicagoland moms had a dream to raise funds for Childhood Apraxia of Speech awareness, research and education. At that time, they created a walk, and over the past three years, it has gained the collective support of more than 1,000 participants and raised nearly $100,000.
What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)?
CAS is a neurological disorder that affects a child’s ability to plan the precise fine motor movements needed to speak. It takes hundreds if not thousands of hours of intensive speech therapy to help a child make sounds that will turn into words that can be understood. Many children with disorders, such as autism, Downs syndrome, Fragile X, epilepsy and sensory integration disorder also have varying degrees of apraxia.
What are we doing about it?
On Saturday, October 13, 2012, we are holding our fourth annual Chicago area one-mile fun walk around Ty Warner Park in Westmont, Illinois from 9am to 1pm. We hope to raise funds for The Apraxia Connection, a newly formed local not-for-profit organization benefiting local families with apraxia and related disorders, and CASANA, the national organization for Childhood Apraxia of Speech that focuses on awareness, education and training programs. it is our mission for this walk to promote awareness to the frustration and isolation created by this very rare disorder, to connect local families, therapists and educations with information and resources in their own communities and to raise funds for apraxia research, an ipad pilot program, boot camp training for speech therapists and educational webinars and speech therapy stipends for needy families.
Here is a link to the original article.