Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

My ds wil be 2 on 4/7. he has been recioeving speech since october and special instructor as well. His receptive has improved greatly but not expressive. The speech teacher said she was leaning towards apraxia and was going to change her approach as if he had it and se what happens. in the month that she has done that she sees a lot more sounds from him indicating she was right it is Apraxia. He is also aprroved for an additional speech session a week which they are looking for someone promt certified to take that extra session.In the meantime the origional speech teacher will work with him.
I asked if putting him in a school enviornment would help and she said not really bc its not a social thing its a motor planning and right now one on one therapy is best.

1) I always thought that they coulcnt be diagnosed until 3?

2) If your child has Apraxia, when did you start to see improvemnt? What age and with what type of therapy?

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

Hi! I just want to disclaim that I am not an SLP. Just another mom with a child with a speech delay.

So he's not even 2 yet?

According to my son's therapists (both special ed. and speech) they told me that it is too young to diagnose at his age (and my son was over 2 at the time we had this conversation). They said that they suspected that he may have it but it was too early to tell and diagnose (at the time he had great receptive but basically no expressive or very little)

We know now that he does not have Apraxia (he is 32 months now) and started having words words and more words about 4 months ago.

As far as motor planning goes, and I would ask the same question to the SLP's on this board, but isn't that something different? I thought apraxia is like a brain transmitter to the mouth to talk. Versus a motor planning issue where the mouth can't make the movements to talk. My son definately did/does have weak oral motor skills (difficulty with lip rounding, disassociating tongue with mouth, protrusion) but all of that is being worked on with the oral motor exercises to increase his tongue and mouth awareness.

Hope that helps although I'm interested to hear what the SLP's say.

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

thanks my slp said its a motor planing problem. I am interested too now to hear more feedback

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

I too am not a SLP but a mom who has been through a lot of speech therapy with her DS.

Like I said, I'm no expert but I did not think that motor planning issues = apraxia. My DS had poor oral-motor muscle tone and motor planning problems. He had many of the problems the PP mentioned (lip rounding, tongue dissociation, etc). But apraxia was never suspected despite these obvious motor issues, and the motor issues were successfully treated (no PROMPT therapy, just traditional oral-motor exercises).

You might want to get a second opinion or at least a re-assessment of that diagnosis in 6 months or something.

ETA: At almost 2, it is still kind of early to see great strides in progress. I know my DS started therapy at 18 months, made slow but steady progress the first 6 or 9 months, and then really "hit his stride" and quickly started to get closer to age appropriate language around 2 1/2 to 3. Now he just turned 4 and you'd never guess he had been delayed as a toddler.

Message edited 3/15/2010 10:45:44 AM.

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

Hi, my ds was diagnosed with severe apraxia at 3 1/2. He started EI services at 2 1/2 and started attending a specialized preschool at 3. For almost the entire school year I noticed no improvement in speech. His EI therapist had mentioned to me to keep in mind apraxia, but felt it was too early to diagnosis at 2 1/2. AFter the school district kept putting me off and telling me he was still to young to diagnosis, I found an SLP who specializes in apraxia and went for an evaluation. Apraxic children tend to do very well with a PROMPT approach in therapy which the school therapists were not trained for.

In 6 months my ds has made a remarkable improvement. He still attends preschool and receives speech 3 x a week / 1 x group and 2 x O/T in addition to seeing the private therapist once a week.

What I found in my experience is not all therapists are trained in every area. If you suspect apraxia I would recommend you find and SLP who has experience in this area for an evaluation. Now that my ds has been properly diagnosised, the school district is working with his private therapist and has admitted to me that they were unsure b/c their apraxia experience was limited. His team now works together in their therapy approach and the results have been amazing for my ds. I found some great information on apraxia-kids.org. Sharon Gretz is wonderful with answering any questions that you have. She is the one who pointed me in the right direction and helped me find my ds's therapist.

If I can help in any way, feel free to let me know.

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

I am an SLP who is PROMPT trained and uses it on a daily basis!
Hopefully, I can be of some help. I have started working with children as young as 1-1.5 who demonstrate "characteristics" of apraxia, but were not formally diagnosed. Sometimes the diagnosis never came and for some it came more towards the age of 3. PROMPT really does work (in my experience usually most effective when combined with several other techniques) when you have someone that has been legitimately trained. Some people say that they know PROMPT because they have watched someone do it or asked someone who has the training to show them a few things.
I would probe your SLP to find out what kind of PROMPT training she has. Also there is a clinic in Westchester run by a woman who is pretty much world famous for specializing in apraxia and is PROMPT certified and is an instructor herself (She taught the courses that I have taken). If you are interested in the name of the clinic FM me.
I will be happy to help as much as I can!

Re: Officially diagnosed with Apraxia nd i have some questiopns

My son has not been diagnosed with Apraxia. The therapist said he was too young to make that diagnosis. He is 3 and a half.
He also goes to a PROMPT Therapist, and she is WONDERFUL. I have seen so much progress in the very little amount we have gone.