Re: dyspraxia vs. autism (everyone please read).

[Guest guest]

We're singing from the same hymn-sheet. However many books I read about

autism I cannot see my son as having any repetitive behaviours which Lorna

Wing, for one, says is a 'must have' to reach a dx of autism. I found the

Portwood book about a year ago. Definitely a 'Eureka!' moment. Full-blown

developmental dyspraxia.

London UK

In a message dated 6/27/2002 22:26:56 PM GMT Daylight Time,

RANDALLWADE@... writes:

> Please folks, I am certainly not bashing autism, there is a place for

> that diagnoses as there is a place for dyspraxia diagnosis. I just

> wish professionals would look more deeply before slapping a label on

> a child. It is easy to see how the two conditions can be confused.

> And alot of times it is too easy for a parent of an autistic child to

> try to convince another parent that their child is autistic because

> he displays some of the same characteristics.

> Hope you all found this interesting. No flaming please, this was all

> posted to be thought-provoking, and nothing more.

>

>

[Guest guest]

What a great post !!! Thank you for doing all of that

research. I think I will print it out and take it to 's therapy

center for those therapists to read that don't understand Apraxia (if

you don't mind me reprinting it?). Your post proves that no one

should just accept one diagnosis, as a lot of disorders have the same

symptoms. Low eye contact, toe walking, mouthing objects, etc., are

also Sensory Integration Dysfunction symptoms. Some therapists

though just want to go with the label that will get more services, as

well as it being the diagnosis they are more familiar with. How do

we educate them so that they will look at all of the possibilities.

We need an increased awareness of Apraxia/Dyspraxia.

Jill

[Guest guest]

Yes, that was thought provoking and I learned a lot. No matter what

our kid has we still need to work with him! I know we like to have a

diagnosis but a brain-injury is a brain-injury. Our son has Sotos

syndrome and there are many similarities with what you quoted.

Thankfully we're getting help through the Family Hope Center in

Philadelphia.

(ny 4 1/2)

[Guest guest]

Toe walking is one of the signs of Cerebral Palsy.

" jills2daughters " <Momof2girls@c...> wrote:

> What a great post !!! Thank you for doing all of that

> research. I think I will print it out and take it to 's

therapy

> center for those therapists to read that don't understand Apraxia

(if

> you don't mind me reprinting it?). Your post proves that no one

> should just accept one diagnosis, as a lot of disorders have the

same

> symptoms. Low eye contact, toe walking, mouthing objects, etc.,

are

> also Sensory Integration Dysfunction symptoms. Some therapists

> though just want to go with the label that will get more services,

as

> well as it being the diagnosis they are more familiar with. How

do

> we educate them so that they will look at all of the

possibilities.

> We need an increased awareness of Apraxia/Dyspraxia.

>

> Jill

[Guest guest]

Jill, my post was meant simply for this group. And unfortunately,

professionals rarely will be convinced of anything someone wrote

on an internet message board, lol.

If you are really wanting to help your child's therapists, look into

buying the book by Pam Marshalla : Becoming Verbal with Childhood

Apraxia, and/or the Madeleine Portwood book that I mentioned. You

might

be able to get from a library, and both can be ordered online.

The " thoughts " I wrote were direct from the book I mentioned and are

not my own. I am no authority on any of this, just a mom like

most everyone else here, trying to make sense of a child that

does not fit any one mold, or diagnostic criteria.

You would have better luck convincing, or educating, your childs

therapists with actual professional literature.

Best wishes to you.

--- In @y..., " jills2daughters " <Momof2girls@c...>

wrote:

> What a great post !!! Thank you for doing all of that

> research. I think I will print it out and take it to 's

therapy

> center for those therapists to read that don't understand Apraxia

(if

> you don't mind me reprinting it?). Your post proves that no one

> should just accept one diagnosis, as a lot of disorders have the

same

> symptoms. Low eye contact, toe walking, mouthing objects, etc.,

are

> also Sensory Integration Dysfunction symptoms. Some therapists

> though just want to go with the label that will get more services,

as

> well as it being the diagnosis they are more familiar with. How do

> we educate them so that they will look at all of the

possibilities.

> We need an increased awareness of Apraxia/Dyspraxia.

>

> Jill

[Guest guest]

I am glad you posted that, that is one I had never heard of.

I have also been told that toe walking is seen in children

that have bowel issues, such as constipation.

So many signs are seen across sooo many disorders.

very interesting isn't it?

" luckygmstwife " <suzi_knowles@p...> wrote:

> Toe walking is one of the signs of Cerebral Palsy.

[Guest guest]

,

I actually agree with you in the since that there can be a lot of children

'labeled' autistic and having only developemental apraxia. Where is the

borderline?

My son has a very deep verbal apraxia with word finding deficit and syntax

involved. But he has many autistic-like behaviours. I actually treated his

social use of language before treating his apraxia, becouse there was no

'reason' for him to use a language; he could solve his daily needs only with

gestures. Before making him speak , I decided to develop the 'language

machinery' so he could use at least signs to communicate.

I suppose the reason to label borderline children as autistic is to understand

their behavior, use a structured teaching with the help of augmentative

communication, and the sensory integration isue. Rutter, and later Dorothy

Bishop wrote some papers about communication disorders and their bounderies.

In http://www.isn.net/~jypsy/onlinep.htm you can find some papers from her.

na

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

Hi everyone.

I have been wanting to post some things.

In light of the recent topic of good books regarding

apraxia. And also in light of some recent posts by those

wanting to call everything " autism " , bear with me during this

long post.

I am going to list some characteristics of a

" disorder " . I will follow each characteristic with a page number.

I will tell you the disorder and the book

where I got my information, at the bottom of my post.

And I am doing this to prove a small point.

[Guest guest]

Right, same here. I'm wondering about other dx's on the autistic spectrum. I

know my son doesn't fit autism, but I'm wondering about some of the others.

Also- I'm wanting an evaluation for it because dh thinks he is. Dh thinks it

based on what I've told him are cross-over traits. Plus the fact that now

that Austin has come out of his shell a bit on EFAs, people are admitting

they were thinking he was autistic.

I've noticed on the questionnaire I am filling out that he is really going

to *sound* autistic. He just doesn't have that unreachable way and loves to

be touched. Too many things about him that are *not* autistic in a big way.

At any rate thanks so much for posting that. I am going to show it to dh.

Lynn

[Guest guest]

Eileen ,

Hi there...what is the building blocks program?

Thanks

[Guest guest]

-Hi all,

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here about this recent topic.

My son Jack last year was showing some signs of " Autisim " I actually

never thought of autisim in our search for a " Diagnosis " but a SLP

who first told me about Apraxia also mentioned taking him to a

psychologist who specializes in Autisim. Maybe it was denial but when

I thought of Autisim all I thought was " Well he makes eye contact how

could it be Autisim " Maybe it was denial I don't know but when I went

to the eval I assumed she would say to me " Your son is in no way

autistic have a nice life " but what she said at the end of the eval.

stunned me. She said he definatley has Apraxia, but he is also " At

risk for Autisim/pdd " I was blown away but after hearing her

explanation I understood.

She recommended he join her program which is a min of 5-30 hrs a week

of intense 1:1 therapy just for children with a diagnosis.

Jack at the time, while he did have some eye contact, showed many

signs of autisim/pdd, what she said that was interesting in regards

to Jack was that typically children who have speech delays only are

even more non-verbally engaging and more " in your face " than

typically developing children. He was never " in my face " and never

wanted me to play EVER!!!!

So instead of a actual diagnosis she said that she would give him

an " At risk of pdd/autisim, based on the facts that his risk factors

include diminished eye contact, diminished interactive symbolic play,

limited repertoire of play, and diminished capacity to sustain

flexible and reciprocal social interaction.

So started the program of 6 1/2 hrs a week which he did for 6 months

and let me just say they were wonderful, infact I wish I had done

more hours and gotten out of Early intervention since they were not

helping much. THey basically taught him how to play, interact, with

ABA and " Floor Time " therapy.

AFter 6 months of the program he was discharged, because he was no

longer at risk for those issues, he is a different child now than

then. In an Ideal world " Most apraxic children would benefit from

this kind of therapy " why because of the amount of similar

characteristics! my son benefited form this approach and oh boy am I

glad that I put my own denial aside and did the program. I am forever

grateful to his therapist there who really knew how to deal with my

child, something that I did not get anywhere else!!!

The " Building Blocks " program was what JAck needed at the time and

since then has an offical diagnosis of Oral apraxia and Sensory

intergration dysfunction. He is doing so well know you would never

would not believe he is the same child that was once in a program for

children with Autisim.

Sincerely,

Eileen

<RANDALLWADE@p...> wrote:

> Hi everyone.

> I have been wanting to post some things.

> In light of the recent topic of good books regarding

> apraxia. And also in light of some recent posts by those

> wanting to call everything " autism " , bear with me during this

> long post.

> I am going to list some characteristics of a

> " disorder " . I will follow each characteristic with a page number.

> I will tell you the disorder and the book

> where I got my information, at the bottom of my post.

> And I am doing this to prove a small point.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Eileen,

i am envious of this program...and like so many others...I wish they lasted

beyond the 3 year!! lol

We are in canada....so things are different here...but I will put out some

feelers to see if the program excists here....Do you have a link to their

program thru the computer...i would be interested in talking to someone there

by email to get soem ideas.....Possibilty setting up the hospital here with

them by email????

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

-

HI ,

Building Blocks is a program that supplements Early Intervention but

it is a Specialty service, which means that the staff specializes in

working intensively with young children with Autisim/pdd.

The staff that work with your child come of a minimum of 5-30 hrs a

week and work with the EI staff, but not while treating, just so they

have open communication. Building blocks is a program of the north

shore ARC. The psychologist that I brought JAck to is the Clinical

Director. She was wonderful, as was the therapist that worked with

Jack. I found them to be insightful, about Jack's behavior and made

wonderful recomendations as to how to deal with him.

The program ends at age 3 just like Early intervention since they are

a Department of public health service provider so they services are

of no charge to the family. The one that I brought Jack to is the

best one they have.

THey are located in Massachusetts

Hope this was helpful

Eileen

-- In @y..., crooksbums@a... wrote:

> Eileen ,

> Hi there...what is the building blocks program?

> Thanks

>

>

>