Updates about Tina and her children

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I just got off the phone with Easter Seals in Georgia and they will be

getting back to me shortly on how they and all of us can help Tina and

her 2 young children during this tragic time.

For those that don't know. Tina's husband Tom had type 2 diabetes but

other than that from what I know was in good shape. This past

Saturday, the day before Easter, Tina walked into her home and found

her husband dead. Tom had died of a heart attack and he was only 36

years old. Tina has a 4 year old with apraxia named Landon, as well as

a 7 year old named Hayden. Tina told me that Landon doesn't'

understand and still thinks his Daddy is going to come home.

I spoke to Tina's mother in law and she told me that the family is

requesting that in lieu of flowers it would be wonderful if people

could make a donation to help with Landon's and Hayden's education.

Easter Seals will be getting back to me about setting up a fund for

Tina and her children.

I want to say a special thank you to who has been

incredible in helping me to find information to help put everything

together for Easter Seals.

If I don't hear back from Easter Seals shortly I will send out later

today the funeral arrangements and Tina's contact info once again.

For new members who don't know who Tina is -she has been one of those

people that has been outreaching to help others -almost from when her

son Landon was first diagnosed with apraxia in 2005. She has a heart

of gold and has touched many of us with her warmth and kindness. The

entire link section of was put together by Tina!

Tina is one of our ten moderators for this group.

Here's Tina's first message to this group. Tina we were there for you

then and helped you get through -and we are here for you now -no

matter how rough the road is right now!

We are as a group saddened -and offer our condolences to your entire

family.

Wed Sep 7, 2005 11:44 am

dyspraxia vs. expressive language delay

trmckenna1@...

Hi my name is Tina. I have a 2 year old little boy that has

problems with his expressive language. When I took him to his 18

month check up it became real clear that he was delayed in

language. He was always a real independent baby. He has a 5 year

old brother that talks all the time so I thought he was just being

quiet because of that. And I learned early on that they were very

opposite of each other. My 5 year old was above average for

everything and Landon was always right around 4-6 months behind

everything his big brother did as a baby. Landon use to screech when

he was confined to a bouncy chair, car seat, saucer. The screeching

and giggling is mostly what he did. He made other sounds like car

noises, tongue-lip noises, blowing noises, yah yah noises, gargling

noises, but I don't remember if he did the constanants or vowel

noises. Around 12-15 months old he started using mmmm for

everything. Before he started saying tank ya (thank you) it was mm

mm. When he needs to tell me something he uses the mmm mmm to try

to talk. We have done the hearing test, we have taken him to an

ENT, we had him evaluated for the Early Intervention Program. He is

currently doing speech therapy with a special instructor twice a

week. I have asked her if any other children she works with does

the mmm mmm and she has never seen it. He is starting to pick up a

word almost every day, but if I don't continue to reinforce that

word or prompt him on that word he loses it. I have read that with

dyspraxia not to force language because the child won't be able to

perform. Landon is a lot like that. If I ask him to say a word, he

has trouble doing it. He learned the word lollypop last week, up

until today if I asked him what he wanted knowing he could say the

word, he couldn't answer me. His receptive language is really good,

so is his fine/gross motor skills. I have been researching

dyspraxia but without taking him to a Neuro. Dev. Pediatrician I am

not sure I am going the right route. I haven't been able to find

any cut and dry info about expressive language delay vs. dyspraxia.

How can one tell if it is just a delay and eventually it will come

or if it is neuro disorder? What is considered a delay? What is

considered dyspraxia? The only things I really understand about

dyspraxia is receptive language is better than expressive. Has

trouble speaking on demand. If anyone can give me more examples of

what to look for in Landon I would greatly appreciate it. I feel

like I have ran into a road block with my searches.

Thank you

Tina

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