Re: older apraxic children

[Guest guest]

My dyspraxic son, , just turned 7. He knew his ABCs by the time he turned

5. He learned to read in Kindergarten and is in the 'middle' reading group in

1st grade. But, I think most of his success is due to his own interest in

letters, numbers and reading. He loved Sesame Street when he was little, and

the preschool disabled program he was enrolled in, worked on letters and numbers

every day.

I also have a non-apraxic little boy, Wesley, who will be 5 in May. We just

worked with flashcards the other day and he knew about 10 letters by sight. He

can sing the alphabet song incorrectly, just like any other song where you don't

know all of the words (and try to fake it!) I asked his teacher if most of the

kids knew their ABCs (he is in a preK class) and she said that less than half

know all of their letters. But compared to (I know, we aren't supposed to

compare

siblings) Wesley seemed a little behind. But, he didn't have the natural

interest in academics, he is more interested in colors.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, your son seems to be in the same boat as

most 4 year olds (according to Wesley's teacher). Hopefully he will not have

any LDs, but he may. (the 7 year old) can read and do math, but can not

put his thoughts down on paper on his own because of his dyspraxia. He has an

aide in class to help him when he gets frustrated.

I taped the ABCs up in their bedroom, so everynight before bed, gets to

point and read them to Wes, maybe it'll sink in.

Good Luck!!

Liz Dunn\Ridgewood, NJ - Mom to and Wesley

daalbe@... wrote:

> I was wondering if some parents of older kids could let me know about what age

their kids learned their ABC's and numbers. My 4.3 year old is doing great in

speech but can't sing the ABC song (could just be the apraxia) or recognize many

letters on flash cards (again with my older non-apraxic son I had him tell me

the letter not try to pick it out of a lot of cards so it may be the apraxia).

I'm wondering if he will just catch as his speech improves or if he may also

have LD. Dawn

>

> _________________________________________________________________

> iVillage.com: Solutions for Your Life

> Check out the most exciting women's community on the Web

> http://www.ivillage.com

>

>

> " Not Just A Late Talker " A half and hour talk show about verbal apraxia

featuring parents and professionals from CHERAB. Tonight, Monday, January 14th

at 6:00 PM on CN8 http://www.cn8.tv on a show called " Real Life " details at

http://www.apraxia.cc

>

> Like information but not emails? Choose the option of " no emails web only " to

read, respond to, or post messages directly from the website. For all the

emails sent in one choose " digest. " If you need help with membership options,

please email , , Rhonda, or at

-owner

>

> If you are looking for support in your own area, contact CHERAB's Outreach

Coordinator at nicole@...

>

> URL to the home page to change options/or to search the archives:

>

> The opinions expressed on this forum are the opinions of the individuals, not

the CHERAB Foundation. Medical advice should be sought before implementing any

therapeutic treatment.

> Post message:

> List owner: -owner

> For more information: http://www.apraxia.cc

>

>

[Guest guest]

My daughter is 4 almost 5 and what we do this. She has a wooden alphabet

puzzle and I put 3 or 4 letters in front of her and tell her which letter to

pick and put in the puzzle, I do the same with numbers.

>

>I was wondering if some parents of older kids could let me know about what

>age their kids learned their ABC's and numbers. My 4.3 year old is doing

>great in speech but can't sing the ABC song (could just be the apraxia) or

>recognize many letters on flash cards (again with my older non-apraxic son

>I had him tell me the letter not try to pick it out of a lot of cards so it

>may be the apraxia). I'm wondering if he will just catch as his speech

>improves or if he may also have LD. Dawn

[Guest guest]

My daughter has been singing the ABC song correctly and recognizable

for at least 6 months. She turned 5 in November. Before that, she

would get the tune right, but she couldn't say the letters. I'd

hear her humming the tune and recognized it. I didn't even think

she knew the ABCs. What was really amazing, is that she went from

not being able to sing it clearly at all to singing it very clearly

in about a month's time. I think she knew the letters, but just

couldn't say it.

To have her practice her ABCs, I use to have her pick out the

letters out of a group of 3 or 4 cards. If there were more cards,

she got overwhelmed.

One thing that we got our daughters for Christmas is the Phonics

Writing Desk by LeapFrog. Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-

/imaginarium/B00000JJ7S/qid=1011483651/br=1-5/ref=br_lf_t_img_5/104-

5751351-1427914

I really like this product. It asks them to press the correct

letter. It also has them spell and write out 3 letter words. My

girls love it!

Our big one now is counting. can't count to 20. She was

getting stuck at eleven, and in the past few weeks she started

saying eleven. I think twelve through 20 will be easier for her to

learn. She says them, but not in order.

Good luck!

Suzi

> I was wondering if some parents of older kids could let me know

about what age their kids learned their ABC's and numbers. My 4.3

year old is doing great in speech but can't sing the ABC song (could

just be the apraxia) or recognize many letters on flash cards (again

with my older non-apraxic son I had him tell me the letter not try

to pick it out of a lot of cards so it may be the apraxia). I'm

wondering if he will just catch as his speech improves or if he may

also have LD. Dawn

>

> _________________________________________________________________

> iVillage.com: Solutions for Your Life

> Check out the most exciting women's community on the Web

> http://www.ivillage.com

[Guest guest]

Hi my son sang his ABC's real good i'd say by the time he was between 5 - 5

1/2.

[Guest guest]

Hello Everyone,

I am mom to three wonderful children, two of my children

are growing up with apraxia. For those who do not know my

son's story, I'd like to share some about them. My apraxic

son's are Khalid age 15.4 and Jadd age 7.10. Khalid was

diagnosed at age 8 with moderate-to-severe verbal, in

addition to having limb apraxia. He was considered having a

severe speech impairment in his earlier years. Jadd was

diagnosed with mild oral apraxia at age 5.

As with any child with a speech deficit, their beginnings

were hard due to not knowing much about apraxia. They had

challenges to face, obstacles to overcome and goals that

needed to be met. Each day we greeted the sun coming up,

with prayer and lots of hard work. Reflecting on their

younger years, the joys and victories did outweigh the

hardships that were before us. We know how hard the road

is to get where we are for some.

I'm writing this today, to express there is hope for these

kids. I can truly say that today the boy's are doing most

wonderful! They both are communicating and talking very

well thanks to strategies they were taught from wonderful

school therapist, and some they have developed on their

own, which I will share in a future email.

We realize how fortunate we are that they have conquered

this battle, and we would have been there no matter what

with love and dedication. I also believe that their

strength of character contributes much to their success in

that they are extraordinary young men and very beautiful

people. Their understanding of others goes beyond their

years that are continually respectful for the needs of

people.

As much as my husband and I tried to shelter them from

bullies and teasing at times it just happens. I sometimes

wonder if perhaps my two boy's are so kind and considerate

of others because they experience firsthand how horribly

wrong and cruel the judging of others is. We have taught

our children that those who put others down, have an

uncertainty about their own self worth which encourages

their destructive behavior toward others. We must feel

sadness for their shame of belittling others and must

understand that the hatred of bullies is far more crippling

than any given disability. All my children have learned

from this, however my oldest son Khalid has taken these

words and made them a shield against hardships.

What does the future hold for apraxic children? For my

children? I envision a promising future for them both.

Their positive outcome has been more than we could have

imagined when they were younger.

Being that the interest is on the outcome of older kids,

I will speak more on my oldest. Khalid is no longer in

special services, due to his apraxia no longer impacting

his academics. Although his condition is no longer

significant, I feel he could still use services for his

written language and for the fatiguing of his hands, from

his limb apraxia. In spite of his past issues, I have

witnessed my son, living life productively and to the

fullest. His confidence, happiness and compassion toward

peers are drawing many friendships.

Khalid won't allow defeat or unfulfilled dreams stop him from

trying again. Khalid's testament and triumph proceeds to

empowered so many individuals. His humanistic philosophy

strives to break down opposing barriers and he continues to

restore false hope, wanting to build bridges between people.

This year Khalid has entered the mainstream of high school.

He enjoys school and is doing very well in the educational

system. To mention some of his recent accomplishments. He

has excelled in his classes, making A's and B's. This

semester he is taking advance algebra and is handling this

challenge very well. Out of 21 students, only 7 classmates

past this quarter's test, Khalid made the 2nd highest grade

throughout his class. He also had outstanding results on

his school Science fair project, achieving an At on his

class Science presentation and Science fair display.

Khalid works out daily, preparing to tryout for the high-

school basketball team next year. He plays basketball and

football weekly with his friends and also plays with

recreational teams. Trusting each day, he is getting closer

to the dream of making the school team. As with his

friends, he is also looking forward to learning to drive

this coming year. Because Khalid has Global Apraxia (motor

planning issues), we will have him closely evaluated to be

sure this is possible for him. He has high hopes and

anxiously awaits this decision and already imagines himself

driving the sports car he posted above his bed.

Khalid is a role model and an inspiration to his younger

brother and sister and to all us who are fortunate to know

and love him. May his accomplishments and outlook on life

inspire you, knowing that there is always a brighter

tomorrow.

I'd like to close this message with a few words from ,

Khalid's outstanding school therapist that diagnosed him at

age 8, who helped Khalid find his voice, changing the course

of his life.

Mustafa

A few words about Khalid

After spending some time with Khalid doing " traditional "

articulation therapy, I began to notice some subtle

differences in the overall style of his spontaneous speech.

I noticed that it lacked the flow and rhythm of " easy "

speech, that it was monotonous (no pitch variation), and

robotic (no changes in intonation and rhythm). But most

importantly, it seemed that repeated trials on a particular

sound did not always result in better productions! I began

to suspect something more, to find he had childhood verbal

Apraxia. After conducting testing using the Dworkin-Culatta

Oral Mechanism Exam (D-COME), the picture of Apraxia became

fairly clear. At that point I changed the whole approach to

therapy. Instead of working on individual or groups/classes

of sounds, I started focusing on how Khalid was able to get

from one syllable to the next. Using rhythm and patterning

in speech, we began to get some clear ideas about how his

speech should flow. At the same time, I continued to

address specific sound productions that were interfering

with intelligibility, but Khalid seemed to " get " where we

needed to go fairly quickly, (he's very bright), and

started practicing the sentences I gave him for homework.

I also enjoyed terrific support from his parents

in this regard.

Khalid experienced success, I believe, because we began

this different sort of therapy early, and because of the

tremendously supportive and consistent practice from the

home/parents. If he had not received this sort of therapy,

experience has shown me that he would very likely still be

struggling with his speech. At age 8, Khalid's Apraxia was

then classified as moderate-to-severe, he still had a long

way to go and continued with treatment into the

middle-school years. He has since been exited and is

enjoying speech that no one suspects has been anything but

normal his whole life.The keys to success here were

appropriate intervention and consistent support/follow-up

at home. And a whole lot of work!

B. MA, CCC-S/L

Speech-Language Pathologist

[Guest guest]

cindy, your words are always inspiring......it's a very slow process as i am

seeing with my matthew.........but there is hope! thanks again for the

inspiration

kim

[ ] Re: Older Apraxic Children

Hello Everyone,

I am mom to three wonderful children, two of my children

are growing up with apraxia. For those who do not know my

son's story, I'd like to share some about them. My apraxic

son's are Khalid age 15.4 and Jadd age 7.10. Khalid was

diagnosed at age 8 with moderate-to-severe verbal, in

addition to having limb apraxia. He was considered having a

severe speech impairment in his earlier years. Jadd was

diagnosed with mild oral apraxia at age 5.

As with any child with a speech deficit, their beginnings

were hard due to not knowing much about apraxia. They had

challenges to face, obstacles to overcome and goals that

needed to be met. Each day we greeted the sun coming up,

with prayer and lots of hard work. Reflecting on their

younger years, the joys and victories did outweigh the

hardships that were before us. We know how hard the road

is to get where we are for some.

I'm writing this today, to express there is hope for these

kids. I can truly say that today the boy's are doing most

wonderful! They both are communicating and talking very

well thanks to strategies they were taught from wonderful

school therapist, and some they have developed on their

own, which I will share in a future email.

We realize how fortunate we are that they have conquered

this battle, and we would have been there no matter what

with love and dedication. I also believe that their

strength of character contributes much to their success in

that they are extraordinary young men and very beautiful

people. Their understanding of others goes beyond their

years that are continually respectful for the needs of

people.

As much as my husband and I tried to shelter them from

bullies and teasing at times it just happens. I sometimes

wonder if perhaps my two boy's are so kind and considerate

of others because they experience firsthand how horribly

wrong and cruel the judging of others is. We have taught

our children that those who put others down, have an

uncertainty about their own self worth which encourages

their destructive behavior toward others. We must feel

sadness for their shame of belittling others and must

understand that the hatred of bullies is far more crippling

than any given disability. All my children have learned

from this, however my oldest son Khalid has taken these

words and made them a shield against hardships.

What does the future hold for apraxic children? For my

children? I envision a promising future for them both.

Their positive outcome has been more than we could have

imagined when they were younger.

Being that the interest is on the outcome of older kids,

I will speak more on my oldest. Khalid is no longer in

special services, due to his apraxia no longer impacting

his academics. Although his condition is no longer

significant, I feel he could still use services for his

written language and for the fatiguing of his hands, from

his limb apraxia. In spite of his past issues, I have

witnessed my son, living life productively and to the

fullest. His confidence, happiness and compassion toward

peers are drawing many friendships.

Khalid won't allow defeat or unfulfilled dreams stop him from

trying again. Khalid's testament and triumph proceeds to

empowered so many individuals. His humanistic philosophy

strives to break down opposing barriers and he continues to

restore false hope, wanting to build bridges between people.

This year Khalid has entered the mainstream of high school.

He enjoys school and is doing very well in the educational

system. To mention some of his recent accomplishments. He

has excelled in his classes, making A's and B's. This

semester he is taking advance algebra and is handling this

challenge very well. Out of 21 students, only 7 classmates

past this quarter's test, Khalid made the 2nd highest grade

throughout his class. He also had outstanding results on

his school Science fair project, achieving an At on his

class Science presentation and Science fair display.

Khalid works out daily, preparing to tryout for the high-

school basketball team next year. He plays basketball and

football weekly with his friends and also plays with

recreational teams. Trusting each day, he is getting closer

to the dream of making the school team. As with his

friends, he is also looking forward to learning to drive

this coming year. Because Khalid has Global Apraxia (motor

planning issues), we will have him closely evaluated to be

sure this is possible for him. He has high hopes and

anxiously awaits this decision and already imagines himself

driving the sports car he posted above his bed.

Khalid is a role model and an inspiration to his younger

brother and sister and to all us who are fortunate to know

and love him. May his accomplishments and outlook on life

inspire you, knowing that there is always a brighter

tomorrow.

I'd like to close this message with a few words from ,

Khalid's outstanding school therapist that diagnosed him at

age 8, who helped Khalid find his voice, changing the course

of his life.

Mustafa

A few words about Khalid

After spending some time with Khalid doing " traditional "

articulation therapy, I began to notice some subtle

differences in the overall style of his spontaneous speech.

I noticed that it lacked the flow and rhythm of " easy "

speech, that it was monotonous (no pitch variation), and

robotic (no changes in intonation and rhythm). But most

importantly, it seemed that repeated trials on a particular

sound did not always result in better productions! I began

to suspect something more, to find he had childhood verbal

Apraxia. After conducting testing using the Dworkin-Culatta

Oral Mechanism Exam (D-COME), the picture of Apraxia became

fairly clear. At that point I changed the whole approach to

therapy. Instead of working on individual or groups/classes

of sounds, I started focusing on how Khalid was able to get

from one syllable to the next. Using rhythm and patterning

in speech, we began to get some clear ideas about how his

speech should flow. At the same time, I continued to

address specific sound productions that were interfering

with intelligibility, but Khalid seemed to " get " where we

needed to go fairly quickly, (he's very bright), and

started practicing the sentences I gave him for homework.

I also enjoyed terrific support from his parents

in this regard.

Khalid experienced success, I believe, because we began

this different sort of therapy early, and because of the

tremendously supportive and consistent practice from the

home/parents. If he had not received this sort of therapy,

experience has shown me that he would very likely still be

struggling with his speech. At age 8, Khalid's Apraxia was

then classified as moderate-to-severe, he still had a long

way to go and continued with treatment into the

middle-school years. He has since been exited and is

enjoying speech that no one suspects has been anything but

normal his whole life.The keys to success here were

appropriate intervention and consistent support/follow-up

at home. And a whole lot of work!

B. MA, CCC-S/L

Speech-Language Pathologist

" Not Just A Late Talker " A half and hour TV talk show about verbal apraxia

featuring parents and professionals from CHERAB http://www.apraxia.cc aired

again on Friday, January 25th at 6:00 PM EST on CN8 on a show called " Real Life "

Once again only the TV viewers could watch it since so many tried to watch

online it crashed the server. It will re air again, and we'll keep you

notified.

" Children Should Be Seen ... And Heard! " CHERAB T Shirt fund raiser available

this week. Buy a CHERAB T Shirt for $15.99, and the video tape of the Not Just

A Late Talker TV show will be sent with it free. More details soon at

http://www.apraxia.cc

Like information but not emails? Choose the option of " no emails web only " to

read, respond to, or post messages directly from the website. For all the

emails sent in one choose " digest. " If you need help with membership options,

please email , , Rhonda, or at

-owner

If you are looking for support in your own area, contact CHERAB's Outreach

Coordinator at nicole@...

URL to the home page to change options/or to search the archives:

The opinions expressed on this forum are the opinions of the individuals, not

the CHERAB Foundation. Medical advice should be sought before implementing any

therapeutic treatment.

Post message:

List owner: -owner

For more information: http://www.apraxia.cc

[Guest guest]

Khalid has always been an inspiration to this group and we are always

grateful for the supportive words and hope that your story sends our way.

Thank you for lifting us all up and giving us so much hope.

Janet

(mom to Adam and Kaitlyn)