There are many parents who do not know what praxis is and who over time have to learn it because of the development of their children. When a child begins to have problems in articulating sounds well in speech, it is because he does not perform praxis well, but of course ... This is if a professional tells you but you do not know what praxis is, you may not really understand what they mean by that term.
Next, we are going to explain what praxis is, how it is practiced and why it is so important. To speak correctly it is important that children have good agility and coordination in their movements, Because this way you will be able to have the same agility of movements to speak correctly and articulate words without problems.
Praxis
Praxias are organized movements of more or less difficulty that help to achieve a goal, such as correctly pronouncing words through the different phonemes. The mouth is not only used for speaking, but it is also used for eating, blowing, gesturing, etc. When a movement problem in the mouth, everything related to it can be affected as well.
Praxis themselves are acquired motor skills; organized movements that are made to carry out a plan or as we have said before, to achieve a goal. Within the praxis there are different types, such as the simplest or the most complex.
Praxis exercises
Normally the exercises with praxis are performed when children or an adult have difficulties for whatever reason to perform movements that include the lips, the tongue, the muscles around the mouth, the jaw or the veil of the strokes.
In addition, each child is different and each one has their own pace of learning, so it is not necessary to force children to do them if they do not want or are not willing to collaborate. It is important to find the necessary motivation so that they feel motivated to do it.
It is necessary to bear in mind that the same movements cannot be carried out at the same ages, so the specific case must be studied in order to choose the appropriate exercises in each specific case. Coordination and the agility of the mouth, tongue or lips.
How are they practiced
To facilitate good articulation it is necessary to do exercises in the organs that are used to be able to speak. For this it is necessary that both the adult and the child or the person who is going to work on it stand in front of a mirror to perform the exercises. So they can observe the movements they are making and correct those that are necessary or practice more those that are more complicated.
In this way and thanks to seeing themselves in the mirror, the child or adult will be able to see how their mouth works and will also be able to compare their movements with those of the other person accompanying them to know exactly what movements do you have to improve in each specific case.
Language praxis are the movements made with the tongue and lips to increase the orofacial tone and help in the preparation to correctly produce the different phonemes of the spoken language.
In the exercises, it is necessary that the poorly articulated phoneme not be corrected, but what really matters is that they teach a new one, so that when it is finally achieved, that is the one that replaces the one that was done in a bad way. In this way, a new movement is achieved that replaces the wrong one.
If you do the opposite, you will only get the child to focus too much on correcting the bad articulation and will not think about the new positions they have to do for the correct pronunciation. Therefore, the ideal is to teach the new joint without focusing too much on the wrong moves that I made earlier.
The exercises have to be short (no more than two or three minutes and with breaks). This is how you will avoid muscle fatigue and tiredness or lack of motivation (or including frustration). If your child has to do praxis, it is best to talk to a speech therapy professional so that they can guide you on how to do them correctly and That your child can reproduce them at home with you and then reinforce it with the professional.