Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

I have to admit I'm worried and freaking out a small bit. Both Noahs Speech Therapist and our Parent trainer who is a speech therapist said Noah is showing as a text book case of Apraxia of Speech.

His receptive speech ranges from within age limits to way above age limits. Yet his expressive is severly delayed.

He searches for words often with hands clenched and the wrong word will come out ( he has begun to use the one word he knows...more....for everything, although seemingly trying to come up with the right word for what seems like ages before that one comes out)

And he has TONS of sounds as he plays, moves around, subconscious sounds....showing he has a voice, and ability, just something is not mapping right in his brain to get it out.

Anyway...theres more, but thats the major part of it.

Now research can be SCARY. I want to help him at home more, our Speech therapist is nice but only offers minimal suggestions.

some of the websites make it seem like he will never have normal speech if this is his disorder or that it could take a VERY long time .

Any advice or success stories?

Thanks...sorry so long.

p.s I do realize that many dont diagnosis apraxia till 2-3 yrs old...

Message edited 3/13/2009 8:42:56 PM.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

If your speech therapist is not giving you very specific exercises to work on with him for this, then I really think you need to look for a new therapist. That is what they are trained for. I know there are some women on here who are SLPs, but my mom is an SLP if you'd like me to ask her any questions.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Donna - I am extremely enraged for you right now that your speech therapist isn't giving you an IMMENSE amount of training for this. I mean a boot camp amount.

We need to talk!!!!!!

ETA - a speech therapist and a parent trainer are NOT diagnosticians. They should NOT be giving you a text book diagnosis of anything until he has a comprehensive evaluation that specifically determines apraxia.

Message edited 3/13/2009 9:07:08 PM.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

my understanding is that prompt therapy is very good for apraxic kids. you might want to look into finding a prompt therapist (different type of speech therapy) and see if it helps.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

No advice..just lots of hugs...

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Is he getting OT as well? How are his gross motor planning skills? FM me about Sensory Street's La La La Language class if you're interested.

Here's a website you may want to check out:

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

definatly look for a PROMPT certified therapist. my DD was seeing one for a while (but it was OOP and costing $$$$) She was discharged from CPSE at 4.5 years old because she wasn't "bad enough" but still needed some assistance.

At 31 months when DD was evaled originally I was told she was most likely "textbook apraxia" Turns out, while she wasn't "textbook" she did have some apraxia issues. She tested at 79th percentile for Receptive language and 2nd percentile for expressive !!

Now at 10 years old....sometimes I wish she would shut up !!! (although I count my blessings that she is okay) She still has a few articulation errors, but I honestly think I am the only one who notices because I know it's there.

Good luck to you !! Also, IMHO I think the SLP should be giving you LOTS of things to do with your DC at home....apraxic or not !!

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Wish I had something to add to help...but i do have lots of

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

first i'd talk to your ped. and see what he thinks.

i'd also look into another therapist or just flat out tell her that you want more suggestions on what to do with him at home. do you have a parent training session?

i also think prompt therapy works wonders.

i worked in a speech and lang. school for many years and have had many children with apraxia and they do make loads of progress (especially the younger ones!) i've had several non- verbal little boys barely able to make a sound at 3-4 years old and by the end of the year they were talking. and when i saw them 1-3 years later, i literally cried b/c of how well they spoke.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Posted by LoveBeingMrsT

first i'd talk to your ped. and see what he thinks.

i'd also look into another therapist or just flat out tell her that you want more suggestions on what to do with him at home. do you have a parent training session?

i also think prompt therapy works wonders.

i worked in a speech and lang. school for many years and have had many children with apraxia and they do make loads of progress (especially the younger ones!) i've had several non- verbal little boys barely able to make a sound at 3-4 years old and by the end of the year they were talking. and when i saw them 1-3 years later, i literally cried b/c of how well they spoke.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

If your speech therapist feels that apraxia might be present she should be requesting a prompt evaluation. No all speech therapist are trained in prompt. If you are EI you can also call your case worker and discuss your concerns or even the agency the therapist is out of.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

I am going through this right now with my ds who is 3 1/2. He sounds like exactly like your son. He started off with only doing b sounds and with PROMPT therapy has finally started the m sound. He has made great progress and has started trying to say words...mainly leaving off the first letter sound and saying the syllable sounds for the words.

The therapists are "toying" with the idea that signs of apraxia are showing, BUT has told me even at 3 1/2 my ds is still too young to be diagnosised. I do agree with everyone when they say that PROMPT therapy works / helps.

I would possibly look into a specially trained therapist who does do PROMPT therapy and works on total communication.

Also, I've been doing a lot of research on apraxia since they've mentioned it and children with it CAN learn to speak well.....they go onto live normal happy lives. I was introduced to one gentleman who is a lawyer and if I wasn't told he had apraxia and didn't really pay attention to his speech I would not have known.

I recently read a book called "The Late Talker" by Marilyn Agin which talked about Apraxia and it gave me a few resources to look into.

My son has been going through this for a year now (first starting in EI) and now in a speech and language school. There are many days where I literally cry my eyes out thinking he's never going to improve. It has been a long year and it seems like it is taking forever, but he is progressing.

Lots of and hang in there!

Message edited 3/14/2009 10:11:35 AM.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Message edited 9/12/2009 2:15:49 PM.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

You son is not even two years old, correct?
I was told that Apraxia should not be diagnosed in children younger than three or four. It is normal for very young children to have difficulty with their neuropathways, they are building them at this point. I'm not a speech therapist, but I had a speech therapist throw this diagnosis around a lot, and I did my research, contacted other therapists, even this particular therapist's "boss".

Turns out, ALL of the other professionals I contacted (I even had my son reevaluated by someone other than his old speech therapist), agreed that my DS's therapist should have NEVER thrown around that diagnosis at such an early age...it is inaccurate, and children cannot be diagnosed younger than a specific age.

Maybe in severe cases you can diagnose, I'm not sure...all I know is that they said my DS did not have apraxia, and they were really upset that my speech therapist even said something like that (and let me tell you...she pushed and pushed on multiple occasions.)

This speech therapist's boss even told me that she has problems with this therapist telling MANY parents that their children had apraxia. The boss told me the same thing about the neuropathways developing in very young children, and therefore the diagnosis is extremely difficult, and you must wait until they are developed (around age 3).

If you don't mind, you could FM me your speech therapist's name, and I'll let you know if it was my son's, since she has this tendency to see apraxia through her eyes (her background is treating stroke patients, pts with severe neurological disorders in hospitals....so maybe that's the reason for seeing a neurological problem with children).

BTW, my DS is doing great, he was a very late talker, and now he's 2 1/2, and doing fantastic. It seemed like one day a light just went on, and he hasn't stopped talking since (right now he is demanding a donut).

Before you get very worried, just be sure you have the right diagnosis.

Message edited 3/14/2009 9:49:07 AM.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

My DD's speech therapist mentioned that DD showed signs for apraxia but at 2, she is too young to diagnose. She does do PROMPT with her and I finally see it helping.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

I'll tell you what my sons speech teacher told us when she thought he showed signs of apraxia "STAY AWAY FROM THE ONLINE" I know it's easier said then done but she said it would drive me nuts and it did. Also your right they don't really dx children until a little older. When we were trying to find a neurologist for him to see no body would see him until 4yrs of age and he was only 3 at the time. And I believe they say that because sometimes there are signs of it but as they get older they see it wasn't that. Luckily my son is going to be 4 in April and his speech teacher said all the signs that made her feel he could have it were gone. All I can say is try not to stress too much and if you have any questions just ask the teacher instead of trying to find them on your own.

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

i'm sorry, i don't have any specific knowledge about this... but i just wanted to give my support

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try and keep from doing internet research about this if you can... not only is there SO much S**T on the internet, but you don't even know that he has this yet. i feel like looking up stuff on the internet can just freak you out unnecessarily...

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions

Thanks everyone and thanks for those who Fm'ed me with support and info.

Im much calmer now and realize Ic annot make myself nuts for the next how many months-yrs wondering, whats important is working on helping him, anyway thats possible. Thanks for the tips too!

Re: Apraxia- SLP's on here or parents...Questions