Speech disorders affect a person’s ability to communicate with others in the way that may be “expected”, especially in an emergency. There are a variety of disorders and conditions that affect speech in people of all ages.

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Speech

A person with autism may be “nonverbal”, and communicate verbally at all, and use other systems to communicate, like speech generation devices, text, or pictorial cards—others with autism may experience communication challenges in unfamiliar or stressful situations. Nonverbal autism as well as being unable or having difficulty communicating in an emergency may persist into adulthood, making autism medical ID jewelry, or nonverbal autism ID tags like those for shoes an important choice for many with autism spectrum disorders.

Stroke, Childhood Apraxia, and Language Delay

Apraxia of speech occurs in a few different forms, the most commonly known being apraxia of speech following stroke, where the individual has difficulty “getting words from their brain to their mouth”, in the simplest terms. [1] The other common type of speech apraxia is childhood apraxia of speech, also known as developmental apraxia of speech or childhood speech dyspraxia, when children have difficulty with motor planning needed to develop sounds into meaningful language. [2, 3] Speech Language Pathologists diagnose and treat apraxia of speech with speech therapy.

Language delays are also common in childhood, that put children behind their peers in what language they can use and/or understand. [4]

Medical ID for speech and communication disorders

All types of communication disorders can, obviously, cause difficulty in emergency situations. Wearing medical ID jewelry noting the type of speech disorder and other medical concerns may help. For instance engraving the medical ID with “[NAME], nonverbal autism, uses iPad to speak” and an emergency contact can help first responders know the person needs their speech generation device iPad to communicate effectively. A stroke survivor who communicates may need a medical ID that reads “[NAME], stroke survivor, uses paper to communicate”.

For adults, including more detailed information on a wallet card can also be helpful—free wallet cards come with all My IDentity Doctor medical ID products. For children, this additional information on how best to communicate with the child may be included on a backpack tag.

We have a wide selection of medical ID products available, visit our shop to explore.