RE: Re: apraxia at birth vs. acquired

December 19, 2008

My son was born fast, via induction ( 6 hours only) full term, no complications,

but he was blue and screaming when he came out.! They gave him a little oxygen

by blow by and he pinked right up. He latched on great. He could not hold his

head up on his stomach at all. Did not roll over till 8 months, sat with help

on time , although not as perky as most and then crawled, walked and went up

stairs within a month at 10 months. He had severe reflux from 5 months till 18

months and was on Zantac. He was allergic to corn, soy and milk. He was up

every 2 hours until a year of age. Very hard to console. Very pleasant happy

child but had his moments of just screaming. It wasn't crying. He breast fed

well. NO problems. He is now 8 years old. He didn't speak untl 4 years of

age. He was diagnosed initially expressive, resceptive language delay, then

apraxia at age 7. He has glabal dyspraxia. His handwriting is aweful, he can

play

sports, (he didn't ride a bike until 7yo) but you can see how the motor

planning is affected until he learns the rules of the game, then he's ok. His

speech now is that of a 4-5 year old. He is dyslexic. He's pretty good at

math. And has a reading comprehension if someone helps him read the passsage of

a 10 year old. He has always tested scattered on all his tests. It is so

frustrating sometimes. He also was diagnosed with ADHD and with the medication

all three thing, fine, gross motor and speech did get better, especially the

running and riding a bike. Not so much with the fine motor or speech. Has

anyone else noticed this? I am a NICU nurse and pediatric nurse. I knew

something was wrong and th doctors just kept telling me he was spoiled. Don't

you love it.... I could of been insane by time he was finally diagnosed. I

do think it is from birth and that these children, because of that, do not

handle the vacinations like

other children.

dian kane

From: seeramona <lorirosen@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: apraxia at birth vs. acquired

Date: Thursday, December 18, 2008, 9:09 PM

This is what I am talking about. There are some mothers who seem to

have noticed this when their child was born. At a meeting a few weeks

ago, a mom commented that in talking to a few other mothers whose

children are apraxic, they all shared the same experience of their

children being stuck in the birth canal and difficulties in getting

them out. Dr. Degrauw jokingly but somewhat seriously commented maybe

apraxia starts in the womb, they even have trouble getting out! Now,

my twins were born prematurely due to PROM (premature rupture of

membrane), so I got to watch them develop and grow as they were in the

NICU for 3 months (born at 27 weeks, almost 3 and half months early).

I can say that my daughter presented with hypotonia at birth. Even

her birth picture shows her with these huge cheeks while her twin did

not have it. They did not get the hep b shots until right before they

were discharged so I can say with certainty that my daughter had all

of these apraxic signs before any shots were given. Yes, all babies

are somewhat floppy in that they can't support themselves, but this

was different. She could not hold her head up but ironically enough,

she could latch on excellent, could bottle feed fine, but had horrible

reflux. talks about these signs on the cherub website and her

book, signs like feeling like the baby weighs a ton (baby not using

their muscles), being floppy, late with milestones, rolling over,

sitting up, crawling, walking etc. Yup, thats my apraxic daughter all

right! So, again, it makes me wonder that some of our children are

born with this, perhaps genetic in nature. Poor nutrition of the

mother? I don't think that is necessarily true as the girls were my

first pregnancy so I wasn't depleted of nutrients. From what I

understand, most of our children with apraxia have normal MRIs,

therefore showing no brain damage, other than those children who have

additional issues i.e. CP, epilepsy, mylenation etc. It is possible

that if there is brain damage, technology isn't picking it up these

days. Or, if it is genetically based, MRIs wouldn't pick it up.

Questions, questions, questions... .we've got to start pushing more

awareness and the need for research!

Lori

> > >

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> > > 6) APRAXIA Types and Causes:

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> > > http://www.nidcd. nih.gov/health/ voice/apraxia. htm

> > >

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December 19, 2008

Dian,

Great story. Just a comment for you on your son's fine motor. With increased

strength and visual motor work, this does get better but it takes a long time.

The stronger Mark's hands get, the better he does.

If I could urge you to do one thing.... just one thing..... please buy a chin up

bar and put it on one of the door frames that your son uses often. I wish I had

done this YEARS ago! I always knew to do it but didn't get a round to it until

mid-October of this year. WELL!!!! The increase to my son's overall body

strength and his cortical grasp of his hands is AMAAAAZING! I put the bar up on

the door to our office and Mark just hands off of that thing non-stop! I'll be

working on the computer and he'll just be 'hanging' around. He loves it and has

a blast. 4 months ago, this kid was so weak that he couldn't do one push-up but

had to do wall push-ups instead. Today, he is up to 20 push-ups and can do

about 5 chin-ups on the chin-up bar. Mostly, he just likes to hang from it and

kind of swing. This bar does fantastic things for overall body core. AND it's

not like therapy! It's fun for him and he likes it. He also likes to push

himself further and further to see how long he can hang. Believe me, for the

$40 it cost from Walmart, this thing is been better then years of therapy!

As his hands get stronger, his handwriting improves. I still have him do some

visual motor exercises too but that chin-up bar is HUGE! Again, I wish I had

done this years and years ago. Even little kids can practice hanging and this

is invaluable for their overall body core strength..... building body core

strength is an essential element to overcoming dyspraxia.

Janice

Mother of Mark, 13

[ ] Re: apraxia at birth vs. acquired