Apraxia?? Also EC-Preschool at 3 yrs??

[Guest guest]

Hi!

Our ST hasn't officially " diagnosed " ds with " apraxia "

but wondering if I could give background and see what

you all think.

DS had normal birth, but was diagnosed with

hydrocephalus and shunted at 7 months. Doctor said it

shouldn't cause any learning troubles. He also had

tubes in ears around a year due to fluid in ears

(which could have caused a bit of hearing difficulty)

Now ds will be 3 in March. He didn't say any words at

all until about 2 months ago. Now he says probably

about 40 or so, but many are not complete " words "

(like " ha " for hot or " pee " for please, etc.)

Right now he's on a vocalization EXPLOSION and he's

singing a lot (mary had a little lamb and this old

man, both with like " ma a ma a ma a " that kind of

thing, but it's the right tune). He is constantly

wanting me to say words (makes this noise that I know

means he wants to hear the word, and I say it, and he

almost always tries to copy me)

Also, right now if I say " mama " he can say it and if I

then say " please " he'll say it, but if I say, " Mama,

please " then he'll just kind of do some jibberish

thing in the same intonation I said the word in and

get the number of syllables right, but it's not the

word. Like if I say, " one, two, three " he'll go, " ah,

Ah, AH "

As a small baby he was slightly " hypotonic " according

to the therapists, anyway. He's been in EI since he

was about 6 months, first PT, then OT, then ST, all of

which have been a waste of time IMO. I mean, they

come once a week for 1/2 hour or so and play with him

basically. I do that all day (sorry, little vent

there which illustrates my lack of faith in our EI

program).

DS has a quiet personality, is gentle, loving, smiles

and laughs a lot, doesn't have trouble blowing bubbles

and all that, is very shy with peers. He seems to

understand everything I say, can follow multi-step

instructions.

I'm sure there's more I could say but this is getting

long. Any thoughts on whether he has " Apraxia " ? Or a

late talker, if there is a difference (and what is it,

anyway?)

Okay... second question.... the EI wants to now put

him in their preschool in the public schools. I'm

extremely hessitant. He's never been in daycare or

even been to babysitter except my sister, and that was

only about 5 times. Is this the way to go? It seems

to me they want to try to force social interaction on

him. I don't like that, and I do NOT like the fact

that they will make him follow their schedule of

circle time and art time, etc. If he doesn't want to

color, they're probably going to try to force him, at

least that's how they do it in the EI playgroup. If

it's circle time and the child wants to play on the

slide, they say, " No, it's time to sit in the circle

now, " and they FORCE them to. I just don't like that.

I just don't know what to do. I'm confused. He just

seems to be making progress lately.

Sorry so long. My main questions are:

Does it sound like my son has apraxia?

If so, would preschool help or is one-on-one ST

better?

Thanks,

Jody