The 2018 Nashville Walk for Apraxia event will be held on September 29, 2018, at the Gateway Island to benefit children with apraxia of speech. Registration begins at 9:30 AM with the Walk beginning at 10:00 AM.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a very challenging and complicated neurological speech disorder in children. This little known disorder makes it difficult or impossible for children to accurately produce sounds, syllables, and/or words despite having a good understanding of language. The Walk for Apraxia® is held across the country as a means to heighten awareness and funding in the hopes that all children with apraxia may have access to the support they need to find their voices.

"CAS is not very common and until 2007 it wasn't recognized within really in the medical profession," said Walk Coordinator, Amanda Davis. "We need to change that for everyone affected. Children with other issues can also have CAS and if we can get the awareness out there to colleges to provide more information to their upcoming students, insurance companies to understand that therapy is a necessity for these children and for school systems to recognize this and provide services without a fight, I think that would be our "Holy Grail". It's frustrating when there are so few professionals to help our kids."

Raising awareness is one of the most tangible ways that communities at large can help children with apraxia thrive. Collective increased awareness means that children will be diagnosed faster, resulting in better, earlier intervention. Anyone interested in covering this event or the story of the Walk Coordinator can contact amandapoole5678@gmail.com or visit the event website at http://community.apraxia-kids.org/nashvillewalk. The Walk is open to all adults and children. All proceeds will benefit important apraxia programs and research of Apraxia Kids.