Yoga for Motor Planning for Speech 89finger to their thumb. For “na,” they touch their ring finger to their
thumb. For “ma,” they touch their pinkie finger to their thumb.
These examples involve the pairing of the auditory and tactile-
kinesthetic modalities, which is consistent with the notion of
using multiple sensory processing channels to maximize learning.
Benefits of yoga for childhood apraxia of speech
As mentioned in Chapter 5, apraxia is a speech sound disorder
involving impairment in the precision and consistency of
movements for speech in the absence of neuromuscular deficits,
such as abnormal tone or reflexes (ASHA 2007). Children with
apraxia exhibit difficulty with motor planning and programming
for speech, resulting in reduced intelligibility. The performance
of yoga poses, breathing exercises, and chants presents children
with apraxia the opportunity to practice and master the motor
planning, programming, and execution of sequenced movement.
Chanting, in particular, is beneficial for children with apraxia
of speech because rhythmic treatment approaches are shown
to improve functional speech production (ASHA 2007). As
previously described in this chapter, multisensory cueing, such
as pairing sound sequences with finger gestures, helps children
with apraxia learn and retain new speech production skills. In
addition, as children with apraxia benefit from repeated practice,
the routines present in yoga classes offer them the opportunity to
master various motor plans.
Summary
Children’s yoga provides abundant opportunities to practice and
master the planning, programming, and execution of gross and
fine (including speech) movements. Specifically, the repetition of
poses, breathing techniques, and chants present in children’s yoga