Do all apraxic kids learn to speak eventually

[Guest guest]

I would like to know if there are any adult apraxics who have never

learned to speak, besides stroke victims. My child is almost 5 and

has a very limited vocabulary. She combines sign with a few words to

make sentences. This is something that I worry about. I have been

told that most kids come out of this, but I was wondering if there

was any documented cases of kids not coming out of this. Her

expressive language is her only problem, everything else is fine.

She is learning to write almost everything. I am also looking into a

private school that has some knowledge in sign. In fact, they want

to incorporate that the elementary age students learn sign, middle

school ages learn Latin, and give High School ages a variety of

languages to learn from. The problem is coming up with the money to

pay for it.

[Guest guest]

I've been thinking lots about this topic, along with other issues,

and have discussed it with a few professionals. The following is

just my reflections as a parent and as an inventor who typically

thinks outside the box...and I'm not saying this to be controversial -

but perhaps to get everyone to also look outside as well.

There is a difference between adult aphasia and the apraxia we see in

children, however in my opinion there may be an overlap we just

haven't found yet that current and new technology and research may

find. In adults with aphasia there is generally a lesion /something

will show up on the MRI, etc. to show there has been head injury or

some type of documented brain damage whether it's from a stroke, or

paralysis from an accident etc.

A child's brain is in many ways still malleable, and many children

with apraxia do not show any hard " brain damage " in MRI's etc, just

soft signs. My question stemmed from watching the PBS documentary

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode2/index.html on the brain and

speech. My question had more to do with (brain) scan research on

those with dyslexia and those that stutter that show unusual brain

wave activity from both hemispheres which they touched on in the

show -but which I've read about before. What interested me is that

the children who had the extreme procedure of having their left

hemisphere removed to prevent severe and constant seizures needed to

learn to talk using the right hemisphere -which is very difficult

because the right side is not where the speech center is so it's " not

as efficient and requires more of the brain " When you first learn to

talk -or when you are taught (at any age) a new language, you use

your whole brain. Once you learn -communication becomes centralized

into the left hemisphere into the speech language center of the brain.

Because I thought the children that had their left hemispheres

removed which were documented on the PBS show sounded somewhat

apraxic -and the fact that " learning to speak " was so hard for them -

I thought of another question: Is it possible that our apraxic (and

some other communication disordered or impaired children) are not

centralizing to the left hemisphere like they should and instead are

continuing to use both sides? Is it possible that something is

preventing/blocking/ paralyzing (or making apraxic) a certain area of

the left hemisphere of the brain in our children? Then why do the

EFAs seem to help and so quickly on our children? Could they help

the children who no longer have left hemispheres too? Maybe as I've

talked before about the remylenating properties of EFAs they are

somehow enabling synapses in the brain to fire that were before

dormant? Maybe in the left hemisphere-and maybe in the right too?

I posed this awhile back to Judy Flax PhD (and SLP) who is one of our

advisors who is also the senior researcher for the Tallal Lab, the

neurosciences lab at Rutgers, and this is part of her response:

" I did see the entire series of The Secret Life of the Brain. I

thought it was very well done. However, you raise one of the

mysterious questions that no one can seem answer. How is it that a

child can sustain severe head injury, trauma, and damage and still

recoup many skills in the

right hemisphere. Yet, a child with no observable site of lesion in

the left hemisphere can present with severe receptive and/or

expressive language disorders or an inability to read. Some theorize

that the damage is subcortical and messages are not relayed properly

to specific locations of

the brain ands that interhemispheric connections are impaired, or

that more and more improper connections have been made over time.

Although I am familiar with studies that have examined ERPs in

children with SLI, I am not aware of any that look specifically at

apraxia. However, we are in the process of doing a lit search for

ERPS and language in children, so I will

make sure that someone zeros in on the area to see if there is

anything specific. I'll let you know if we find anything "

On another note we know the brain responds to multi sensory impulses

so perhaps therapy of the future for our children will involve multi -

stimulatory therapy together with traditional? (visual therapy,

auditory or listening, cranial sacral and osteopathy, EFAs...) I

will continue will all of the people from CHERAB to explore these

areas -which is where we would like to move forward with research to

help our children.

And back to adult and children. The children's brains are developing

and we may not see similarities since we may not have the technology

yet, or perhaps haven't looked yet. If there are similarities in

adult and child dyslexics and stutterers than why not apraxia? In my

opinion everything we know may change with the new technology

combined with research we already know and will continue to learn

going ahead.

In my opinion most of the apraxics that start to talk sound more like

those classified and thought of as SLI or speech language impaired

http://www.byu.edu/news/releases/archive99/Mar/speech.htm. Explore

how they sound when they grow up. Don't limit yourself to

believing " well this is different " and just continue to look outside

the box, because staying in the box any longer isn't acceptable for

me for my child-and probably the same goes for most.

" While the brain of an infant is equipped to learn anything -

multiple languages, for example - it sculpts itself to meet the needs

of its environment. Brain cell connections not needed are pruned

away. The adult brain has many fewer connections between cells, but

the brain retains a great plasticity, constantly changing and

adapting. "

http://www.brainconnection.com/SITEWare/2002/01/22/knigt/3973-0134-TV-

BRAIN-PREVIEW.FL.php3

=====

[Guest guest]

I like your thinking about how the brain works. My daughter is a

very strange case. When she was little, my neurologist did not

recommend an MRI for her because he didn't think it would show

anything. Except for speech and language, her development has been

normal.

Because she was sick as an infant, we knew that she could have brain

damage. I insisted on the MRI, and it showed lots of damage. The

thing is that it showed so much damage, that the doctors are amazed

my daughter can even walk. She can walk, run, swim, ride a 2-

wheeled bike, and roller blade.

Because of the location of the damage, the neurologist don't think

her speech problems are related to the damage. (I disagree with

this.)

It is amazing that her brain has compensated for some things so she

can do gross motor activities, but the speech and language problems

still persist. I'll be very curious to see what happens to her in

10-20 years.

> I've been thinking lots about this topic, along with other issues,

> and have discussed it with a few professionals. The following is

> just my reflections as a parent and as an inventor who typically

> thinks outside the box...and I'm not saying this to be

controversial -

> but perhaps to get everyone to also look outside as well.

>

> There is a difference between adult aphasia and the apraxia we see

in

> children, however in my opinion there may be an overlap we just

> haven't found yet that current and new technology and research may

> find. In adults with aphasia there is generally a

lesion /something

> will show up on the MRI, etc. to show there has been head injury

or

> some type of documented brain damage whether it's from a stroke,

or

> paralysis from an accident etc.

>

> A child's brain is in many ways still malleable, and many children

> with apraxia do not show any hard " brain damage " in MRI's etc,

just

> soft signs. My question stemmed from watching the PBS

documentary

> http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/episode2/index.html on the brain and

> speech. My question had more to do with (brain) scan research on

> those with dyslexia and those that stutter that show unusual brain

> wave activity from both hemispheres which they touched on in the

> show -but which I've read about before. What interested me is

that

> the children who had the extreme procedure of having their left

> hemisphere removed to prevent severe and constant seizures needed

to

> learn to talk using the right hemisphere -which is very difficult

> because the right side is not where the speech center is so

it's " not

> as efficient and requires more of the brain " When you first learn

to

> talk -or when you are taught (at any age) a new language, you use

> your whole brain. Once you learn -communication becomes

centralized

> into the left hemisphere into the speech language center of the

brain.

>

> Because I thought the children that had their left hemispheres

> removed which were documented on the PBS show sounded somewhat

> apraxic -and the fact that " learning to speak " was so hard for

them -

> I thought of another question: Is it possible that our apraxic

(and

> some other communication disordered or impaired children) are not

> centralizing to the left hemisphere like they should and instead

are

> continuing to use both sides? Is it possible that something is

> preventing/blocking/ paralyzing (or making apraxic) a certain area

of

> the left hemisphere of the brain in our children? Then why do the

> EFAs seem to help and so quickly on our children? Could they help

> the children who no longer have left hemispheres too? Maybe as

I've

> talked before about the remylenating properties of EFAs they are

> somehow enabling synapses in the brain to fire that were before

> dormant? Maybe in the left hemisphere-and maybe in the right

too?

> I posed this awhile back to Judy Flax PhD (and SLP) who is one of

our

> advisors who is also the senior researcher for the Tallal Lab, the

> neurosciences lab at Rutgers, and this is part of her response:

>

> " I did see the entire series of The Secret Life of the Brain. I

> thought it was very well done. However, you raise one of the

> mysterious questions that no one can seem answer. How is it

that a

> child can sustain severe head injury, trauma, and damage and still

> recoup many skills in the

> right hemisphere. Yet, a child with no observable site of lesion

in

> the left hemisphere can present with severe receptive and/or

> expressive language disorders or an inability to read. Some

theorize

> that the damage is subcortical and messages are not relayed

properly

> to specific locations of

> the brain ands that interhemispheric connections are impaired, or

> that more and more improper connections have been made over

time.

> Although I am familiar with studies that have examined ERPs in

> children with SLI, I am not aware of any that look specifically

at

> apraxia. However, we are in the process of doing a lit search

for

> ERPS and language in children, so I will

> make sure that someone zeros in on the area to see if there is

> anything specific. I'll let you know if we find anything "

>

> On another note we know the brain responds to multi sensory

impulses

> so perhaps therapy of the future for our children will involve

multi -

> stimulatory therapy together with traditional? (visual therapy,

> auditory or listening, cranial sacral and osteopathy, EFAs...) I

> will continue will all of the people from CHERAB to explore these

> areas -which is where we would like to move forward with research

to

> help our children.

>

> And back to adult and children. The children's brains are

developing

> and we may not see similarities since we may not have the

technology

> yet, or perhaps haven't looked yet. If there are similarities in

> adult and child dyslexics and stutterers than why not apraxia? In

my

> opinion everything we know may change with the new technology

> combined with research we already know and will continue to learn

> going ahead.

>

> In my opinion most of the apraxics that start to talk sound more

like

> those classified and thought of as SLI or speech language impaired

> http://www.byu.edu/news/releases/archive99/Mar/speech.htm.

Explore

> how they sound when they grow up. Don't limit yourself to

> believing " well this is different " and just continue to look

outside

> the box, because staying in the box any longer isn't acceptable

for

> me for my child-and probably the same goes for most.

>

> " While the brain of an infant is equipped to learn anything -

> multiple languages, for example - it sculpts itself to meet the

needs

> of its environment. Brain cell connections not needed are pruned

> away. The adult brain has many fewer connections between cells,

but

> the brain retains a great plasticity, constantly changing and

> adapting. "

> http://www.brainconnection.com/SITEWare/2002/01/22/knigt/3973-0134-

TV-

> BRAIN-PREVIEW.FL.php3

>

> =====

>