Update on Charlie Hart's Apraxia

May 20, 2008

We went to a Speech Pathologist today after referral from his PCP

confirming the Apraxia. She also confirmed the Apraxia. The great

news is she is recommending the " DynaVox V " AAC device. This one is a

computer, a communication device and a MP3 player. (The real

expensive one! :0) I am smiling because Medicaid covers it.) Anyways,

here is the great news....I was correct in that Charlie Hart " IS "

reading at 4 years old!!!! :0) She tested him and he pointed to the

correct choice of words when asked to point to a particular word out

of groups of four. He did it with 100% accuracy! The speech

pathologist said she is seeing more and more children with DS and

children with autism who are reading early, and that is GREAT in

itself, as well. (Although, I have to say that this is typical

between 4 and 5 in my kids, so I do not consider it " early " .) BUT, I

guess with all the labels and stuff, I just did not have that

expectation for Charlie Hart. I am so excited and now that we have

confirmed that what we were seeing is correct, we will begin doing

Dolch Sight Words, as well as famliar phrases to him.

It seems like all the fight I have " put up " for Charlie Hart in order

to stand up for him as a " normal " kid has finally felt worthwhile in

a sense. In a way, I feel justice has come his way; I know that

sounds strange, but I am so happy for him. We still do not have a

defining cause of the reason he started some phrases and then stopped

or arrested his speech. Maybe no one will ever know. I am convinced

that we have done right by him by searching until we found the root

cause of his main problem. Thanks Krisy for the tip on leaning

towards " Apraxia " . It has opened a whole new world for him and in the

process, we learned he is beginning to read.

<br>

Recommended Posts