The Childhood Apraxia Society of Edmonton is a new not-for-profit organization founded by a group of parents and professionals with children affected by a rare speech disorder called Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
The society aims to raise awareness on the special needs of these children and offer support to families impacted on the community.
Childhood Aparaxia of Speech is a neurological speech disorder that affects a child’s motor skills. Although knowing what they want to say, affected children experience difficulty getting the words out, because their brain cannot co-ordinate the movements needed to produce sounds, syllables, words and sentences that make up conversational speech.
Children affected by Apraxia require years of speech therapy to develop the motor skills necessary to speak intelligibly.
Since Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a spectrum disorder, no two children are affected in the same way, but the disorder often leads language, literacy and learning difficulties. Difficulty communicating can also affect a child’s self esteem and lead to anxiety and stress.
Saturday, May 14, marks Apraxia Awareness Day.
A new report, released by Shoppers Drug Mart and CARP, a not-for-profit organization that advocates on behalf of Canadians over 45 and older, highlights the importance of pharmacists in creating a sustainable health care system.
The report indicates that 50 per cent of Canadians with chronic diseases do not adhere to taking their medication as prescribed by a physician.
This non-adherence causes 69 per cent of medication-related hospitalizations and costs the health care system an estimated $7 billion to $9 billion, since it can often lead to serious health complications.
Among surveyed CARP members 15 per cent admitted to stopping medication without consulting a doctor, one-quarter intentionally skipped a dose, 28 per cent missed or delayed a refill and 24 per cent missed or delayed getting a renewal for their prescription.
For those who stopped taking their medication or skipped a dose the most common reason was related to side effects.
The report states that expanding pharmacists’ roles, such as allowing for face-to-face medication reviews and on the spot adjustments, helps to curb non-adherence rates.
In Alberta, where pharmacists have the power to sit down with a patient to discuss their personal health goals and develop a plan to best achieve them, this role was found to be particularly effective. The ability for some Alberta pharmacists to prescribe helps patients adhere to prescriptions, while addressing concerns about side effects.
