Apraxia is a disconnect between the mind and body, leading to a person's body moving out of their control and impacting the way they communicate and carry out movements.

 

Though apraxia does not always occur in individuals with autism and can also co-occur with other diagnoses, Jeong and Darroch (2021) report that about 60% of people with autism have apraxia, meaning that it is quite prevalent though perhaps underdiagnosed. 

 

Music Therapy: An Introduction to the Profession, a respected textbook for music therapy students covering various populations relevant to the field, mentions apraxia in-depth in a rehabilitation context and later in a single vignette speaking to apraxia of speech in a child with autism (Knight et al., 2018). The book briefly references two music therapists, Hardy and LaGasse, who have researched abnormal movements connected to autism but does not mention apraxia. In other words, this textbook presents limited information on apraxia of speech outside of a rehabilitative environment and no information on working with clients with ocular, oral, or limb-kinetic apraxia to music therapy students.

 

This resource serves as a means to educate and equip music therapy students, interns, and professionals with background information, example interventions, perspectives to consider when starting to work with this population.