RE: Soft pallate

May 1, 2002

Nothing actually. Colin wouldn't talk with them at all, total refusal, they

listened to a tape I had made of him talking, listened to the update, and

basically that was it. Until he has connected speech they will not evaluate

him. I wish they did speak to me more about low tone but they knew I was in

speech therapy so probably thought she will cover it. Before we went there,

we went to an ENT at Childrens Hospital in Columbus and they scoped him and

found a small gap in his palatte. He cried during the entire thing being

only 2 and Cinncinati said since he only cried that that isn't a realible

enough finding. Which may be true. But he is very nasal and an ENT this

winter looked in just quickly with his microscope and saw a mild clefting of

the palatte. with the efa's and therapy, both speech and OT and school he is

making such progress. He is saying 4and 5 word sentences now and others can

understand him finally. He is very nasal and most of his constonants arn't

there but the ones that don't need a lot of pressure are starting to be

there. The big difference I think has been efa's and in Ot and school they

do a lot with his mouth. Blowing bubbles, nuk brush, gummies, later tonight

I can e-mail more exercies, I have a handout upstairs.

Also making him eat a variety of textures, even if only a couple of bites

has been essential because it makes his mouth work. He is not a good eater

and this has been hard and I have backslid but it has been essential.

Are there others out there whose children have abnormalities with their

palatte and have been diagnosed with dysarthria and apraxia? I would love to

find others to find out their treatment plan, whether their child has had

surgery such as phylgeal flap, if it was successful, etc.

The low tone we are addressing through OT, and before this a lot of pt.

Hope this helps.

[ ] Re: IEP/Apraxia trained therapist

,

What did the VPT clinic in Cinncinnati have to say about the low tone and

soft palate? Did they give you any suggestions on strengthening exercises?

May 1, 2002

,

Thanks, that was very helpful. We are doing much the same for Myra. She's

not talking yet so we have a long way to go.But just in the last week or so

I have noticed a decrease in the nasal sounds and she is vocalizing through

the mouth. If she continues then we should be able to help her begin to

shape the sounds. I am thinking of trying suckers but am a little worried

about the choking hazzard. She never really sucked on a bottle, I used a

weird soft spout that came in the 3 stage nurser kit because she hated the

soy milk. I don't think there is anything wrong with the soft palate other

than low tone. It affects her in many places. The other major area of

concern is her feet. She pronates so is very unstable. Her developmental

pediatricain told me arch supports and braces don't really solve the

problem. You have to strengthen the muscles.

I am surprized that with a family history of VPI that they will not even

take a closer look at the problems Colin may be having, did they say the gap

would grow together? You should look at that website I suggested to Angi. My

speech therapist was doing research to help Myra and directed me to it.

Deirdre

----- Original Message -----

> Nothing actually. Colin wouldn't talk with them at all, total refusal,

they

> listened to a tape I had made of him talking, listened to the update, and

> basically that was it. Until he has connected speech they will not

evaluate

> him. I wish they did speak to me more about low tone but they knew I was

in

> speech therapy so probably thought she will cover it. Before we went

there,

> we went to an ENT at Childrens Hospital in Columbus and they scoped him

and

> found a small gap in his palatte. He cried during the entire thing being

> only 2 and Cinncinati said since he only cried that that isn't a realible

> enough finding. Which may be true. But he is very nasal and an ENT this

> winter looked in just quickly with his microscope and saw a mild clefting

of

> the palatte. with the efa's and therapy, both speech and OT and school he

is

> making such progress. He is saying 4and 5 word sentences now and others

can

> understand him finally. He is very nasal and most of his constonants arn't

> there but the ones that don't need a lot of pressure are starting to be

> there. The big difference I think has been efa's and in Ot and school they

> do a lot with his mouth. Blowing bubbles, nuk brush, gummies, later

tonight

> I can e-mail more exercies, I have a handout upstairs.

> Also making him eat a variety of textures, even if only a couple of bites

> has been essential because it makes his mouth work. He is not a good eater

> and this has been hard and I have backslid but it has been essential.

> Are there others out there whose children have abnormalities with their

> palatte and have been diagnosed with dysarthria and apraxia? I would love

to

> find others to find out their treatment plan, whether their child has had

> surgery such as phylgeal flap, if it was successful, etc.

> The low tone we are addressing through OT, and before this a lot of pt.

> Hope this helps.

May 2, 2002

I didn't see the website, can you send it to me? With VPI the gap can come

together more sometimes with speech therapy. It depends on the cause of the

VPI. My speech therapist is thinking that he is so nasal that that is not

likely to happen. It is amazing hearing him speak now. Everyone is

understanding him. He went from saying a couple of words, to combination two

words and that stage lasted a while, then suddenly he has zoomed up to 4-5

word sentences. I upped his pro efa to two a day and I really saw a

difference with that.

[ ] RE: Soft pallate