Summer camp for children with rare speech disorder

Camp helps with communication barriers Watch: Four years ago, a Calgary mom started a new camp to help her son with apraxia. Kevin Fleming has the story.

Dozens of kids with a rare speech disorder are meeting up at a special camp, created to help them after they struggled in silence at other camps.

Called apraxia, it impacts one out of every thousand children, making it very difficult for them to communicate with others.

The signals from their brain that plan what muscles movements in their mouth are needed to produce clear speech get mixed up, so when they talk it doesn’t sound like words.

Four years ago, Natasha Kostenuk had a hard time finding a summer camp for her son Fox because he came across as quiet or reserved; a challenge for a five-year-old trying to make friends.

The Apraxia Camp brings together all children with the same speech issues that Fox possesses.

"The fact that they can find that common thread between each other, and feel comfortable with each other and talk to each other that much right from day one, it's the whole reason we're doing this camp," Kostenuk said.

Shannon Kushniruk, a speech language pathologist working with the kids at the camp, says it's a more relaxed atmosphere for them.

"I do find that because they all have the same challenges, they are a bit more patient with each other because they know how that feels to not be understood so they try to be patient and help each other out," she says. "It's really cool to see them working together like that."

Apraxia Camp, which takes place at the Bridgeland Community Centre, has helped dozen of families and their children improve their speech and communication skills.

More information about the camp can be found online.