Apraxia and early reading

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I've been reading the list for a while, but this is my first post.

My son Benny is 2 1/2 and is severely language delayed. He is just starting

to say a few words, but does not say them correctly. His speech

therapists (one for private therapy and one with EI) suspect apraxia but say

that it's too early to diagnose for sure. His receptive language is age

appropriate, but his expressive language has a 12 month delay. Benny

recently started signing (after many months of trying to get him interested)

and in just a few short weeks his signing has really taken off. This has

greatly decreased his frustrations and his tantrums.

I have read quite a bit about children with apraxia having difficulty

learning to read, but I am wondering if anyone here has the opposite

situation? Does anyone have a child with apraxia who is an early reader? I

mean very early, like 2 or 3 years old? Benny has been sight reading words

for months and he is now figuring out phonics. He knew all the letters of

the alphabet before he was 2 and he spells words out with his ABC blocks or

his magnetic letters on the fridge. The first thing he learned in sign

language was the manual alphabet and if he doesn't know the sign for a word,

he will fingerspell it.

The STs have told us that early reading combined with a communication

disorder is a sign of autism (hyperlexia). However kids with this form of

autism usually have poor receptive language and my son does not. Although

Benny has some social delays, I don't think his social problems are severe

enough to consider him autistic. He is very shy with other children and

still plays near them rather than with them, but he warms up to adults very

quickly. He makes eye contact and likes to point out things that interest

him.

I never thought that I would have a two year old who can read but cannot

talk. People look at me like I'm insane when I tell them about Benny. Has

anyone else has a child like this?

Thank you,

C.