RE: Question about sign language and Apraxia

[Guest guest]

Christy,

One of the children that I see was also diagnosed with apraxia.....and

currently has a sign repertoire of over 100 signs. The nice thing to see is

that he uses the signs throughout the course of the day....not only to mand

for items and activities, but as his means of communication to let others

know what he sees, what he is doing, etc. Some examples are....when he is

coughing or someone else is coughing, he signs coughing......if he is one

room watching a video and mom and I are in another room, he will come in to

tell us what he saw on the video. He is also putting 2 words together using

adjectives with nouns and verbs with nouns. He is amazing to me....

And although the SLP told mom that children with apraxia don't speak until

they are 7 years old, this little guy(who is 4 years old) is also beginning

to put together sounds that we have been teaching him..............

I can go on and on about this incredible little guy. A big key to his

success is the fantastic therapist that works with him as well as the

involved family which provides a 24/7 VB environment, including signing to

him.

-- [ ] Question about sign language and Apraxia

I was just curious how many parents of children with Apraxia are using sign

language and how they are doing with it. Presently, I am working with a

little guy who is said to have apraxia. The SLP says that because of the

Apraxia,

he has trouble with motor planning with sign. From what I see, he is able

to

maneuver a car seatbelt and puzzles really well so he should be able to

maneuver his hands just as well. I went to the Carbone workshop a few

years back

and he said that just about anyone can sign. I would appreciate any

advice.Thanks, Christy J.

[Guest guest]

A couple of comments here ...

Christy, just because a child can put together puzzles or do his own

seatbelt, doesn't mean he can sign. The skills for signing are quite

different from those used for puzzles or seatbelts. I know this because my

son had these same skills, but had a great deal of difficulty signing. We

finally dropped the signing because I felt it was too difficult for him to

both " sign and say " , and he had emerging vocal skills. We used the " Easy

Does it for Apraxia " approach www.linguisystems.com (get the book for OLDER

kids) which uses hand cues from the teacher to cue the child to make sounds.

My son began speaking within 6 months with this method. For him, SEQUENCING

the sounds to make words was the difficulty, and using the hand cues helped

tremendously.

, I am always wary of anybody who makes a blanket statement such as

" Children with apraxia don't talk until ... " These kids are ALL different!

We have several kids at our school with a diagnosis of apraxia who ARE

talking and are not anywhere near 7 years old.

It is SO IMPORTANT to remember that these children are INDIVIDUALS, and not

lump them into categories. As soon as you start to do that, you are denying

the child an opportunity to reach his or her potential by lowering your

expectations.

Always SHOOT FOR THE STARS, and you will be amazed at what these children

can do!

P.S. When my son was diagnosed at 27 months, the professionals told us that

he would NEVER talk, and he would need to be institutionalized. Kenny will

be 11 on May 26, and I assure you that he does talk, and he certainly

doesn't need to be institutionalized. He is a sweet, loving little boy. If

we hadn't done ABA/VB that picture might be quite different today.

s (Cary, NC)

persistentC@...

President and Executive Director

The Mariposa School for Children with Autism

www.MariposaSchool.org

919-461-0600

[ ] Question about sign language and Apraxia

I was just curious how many parents of children with Apraxia are using

sign

language and how they are doing with it. Presently, I am working with a

little guy who is said to have apraxia. The SLP says that because of the

Apraxia,

he has trouble with motor planning with sign. From what I see, he is able

to

maneuver a car seatbelt and puzzles really well so he should be able to

maneuver his hands just as well. I went to the Carbone workshop a few

years back

and he said that just about anyone can sign. I would appreciate any

advice.Thanks, Christy J.

[Guest guest]

Christy J. and group,

Motor planning and sequencing are two different kinds of problems. My son

pretty well worked through his motor planning problems--was competent at puzzles

and proficient at disengaging his seat belt and was a very fast

keyboarder--years before he could sequence a series of motor movements.

Colin could communicate effectively using a keyboard to type or a VOCA

select or type messages by age six. We tried to teach him to sign since he was

2YO but he did not overcome his sequencing difficulties until he was 9YO. Then

he quickly acquired a vocabulary of about fifty signs which he uses to Sign

Exact English(SEE).

,Colin P's mom

[ ] Question about sign language and Apraxia

I was just curious how many parents of children with Apraxia are using sign

language and how they are doing with it. Presently, I am working with a

little guy who is said to have apraxia. The SLP says that because of the

Apraxia,

he has trouble with motor planning with sign. From what I see, he is able to

maneuver a car seatbelt and puzzles really well so he should be able to

maneuver his hands just as well. I went to the Carbone workshop a few years

back

and he said that just about anyone can sign. I would appreciate any

advice.Thanks, Christy J.