RE: non speaking 4.5 year old?

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

 

My son was diagnosed with Verbal Apraxia.  But interestingly enough, my

youngest son - Beckett - was born with a soft cleft palate.  He is 18 months old

- so a bit younger than your daughter - but he did undergo surgery for his cleft

at 9 months.  How old was your daughter when her cleft was repaired?   That

could make a big difference in her speech. 

 

Other questions...

 

Have you had her hearing tested?  Children with clefts are prone to ear

infections.  Beckett had more than a dozen in the first 9 months of his life -

before the tubes were put in.

But ear infections may impact speech because they can alter the hearing -

depending on how bad the infection, how many they have and how they are

treated.  What kind of care did your daughter receive as an infant?   How is her

receptive language?  That may help you determine if she has hearing loss.

 

Have you spoken to a speech pathologist about your daughter's birth defect?  We

have had Beckett at the Craniofacial Clinic at Children's Hospital since he was

about a week old.  Do they have a Children's Hospital near where you live?  

Beckett sees a team of doctors every time he goes to this clinic - a plastic

surgeon, an ENT, and a speech pathologist.  When he was very young - we also saw

a feeding specialist.   I would definitely recommend one of these types of

clinics - because most of the doctors and SLP's that work at them specialize in

things like cleft palates. 

 

I don't know how much information the adoption agency gave you regarding your

daughter's healthcare prior to adoption, but you may consider finding out -

because it could fill in some of the holes regarding her speech.  Since kids

typically begin talking and babbling around 12 months - perhaps her late cleft

repair is playing a role in her delayed speech.

 

I am interested to hear back from you.  I was so scared when Beckett was born. 

His cleft was missed at the Ohio State Medical Center.  That's right - I took

him home from the hospital never knowing he had a birth defect.  I kept telling

everyone that would listen that he wasn't eating right but no one would listen. 

 

Today - post surgery - he is ear infection free and happy little boy.  He's my

little miracle. 

 

 

I guess I have a few questions

From: lisamlivingston <lisamlivingston@...>

Subject: [ ] non speaking 4.5 year old?

Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 8:31 PM

I am the proud mom of my daughter aged 4.5

adopted from china at age 2.5.

Corrected full blown cleft palate.

Severe , awful, chronic ear infections with tubes at age 3.5.

abr shows normal hearing as of age 3.5, but not before.

Otherwise more or less normal - ok, delays, but only a specialist

(like you and I) would know.

She never babbled, makes NO effort to, and seems as if she would

care less.

Yes, she acts loving and has a great personality, no, she is not

autistic by anyones guesses.

OK, so I answer for her, and do not ake her speak. How can I MAKE

her?

God, I logve this kid....I just want to hear momma.

I JUST WANT TO HEAR MIRACLE STORIES FR4OM SOMEONE!!!!!

Please share,

------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Have you tried the omega fish oils? The desire for speech went from null to

Wow after 2 days of the fish oil and she was not speaking either at 4.5 and

a few words by 6 we started fish oils at 6.5 ..The only speech therapy that

helped her was PROMPT therapy which showed her what muscles she needed to

use to make sounds. She is speaking mostly in full sentences now at age 10.5

unless in new situations or under stress. And we are still teaching her sign

language for those situations as while signing she is able to speak some

words. She was adopted from El Salvador.

s' Mom

_____

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of lisamlivingston

Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 8:31 PM

Subject: [ ] non speaking 4.5 year old?

I am the proud mom of my daughter aged 4.5

adopted from china at age 2.5.

Corrected full blown cleft palate.

Severe , awful, chronic ear infections with tubes at age 3.5.

abr shows normal hearing as of age 3.5, but not before.

Otherwise more or less normal - ok, delays, but only a specialist

(like you and I) would know.

She never babbled, makes NO effort to, and seems as if she would

care less.

Yes, she acts loving and has a great personality, no, she is not

autistic by anyones guesses.

OK, so I answer for her, and do not ake her speak. How can I MAKE

her?

God, I logve this kid....I just want to hear momma.

I JUST WANT TO HEAR MIRACLE STORIES FR4OM SOMEONE!!!!!

Please share,

[Guest guest]

we ghave plain old fish oils........ is there sth " special " about Omega 3.6.

whatever? Is that for real, or just bogus?

 

 

I did not know el salvador adopted! Que fantastico!!!!!! Please . MORE GOOD

NEWS!!!!!!!

 

From: rxflwrs <rxflwrs@...>

Subject: RE: [ ] non speaking 4.5 year old?

Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 10:06 PM

Have you tried the omega fish oils? The desire for speech went from null to

Wow after 2 days of the fish oil and she was not speaking either at 4.5 and

a few words by 6 we started fish oils at 6.5 ..The only speech therapy that

helped her was PROMPT therapy which showed her what muscles she needed to

use to make sounds. She is speaking mostly in full sentences now at age 10.5

unless in new situations or under stress. And we are still teaching her sign

language for those situations as while signing she is able to speak some

words. She was adopted from El Salvador.

s' Mom

_____

From: @groups. com

[mailto: @groups. com] On Behalf Of lisamlivingston

Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 8:31 PM

@groups. com

Subject: [childrensapraxiane t] non speaking 4.5 year old?

I am the proud mom of my daughter aged 4.5

adopted from china at age 2.5.

Corrected full blown cleft palate.

Severe , awful, chronic ear infections with tubes at age 3.5.

abr shows normal hearing as of age 3.5, but not before.

Otherwise more or less normal - ok, delays, but only a specialist

(like you and I) would know.

She never babbled, makes NO effort to, and seems as if she would

care less.

Yes, she acts loving and has a great personality, no, she is not

autistic by anyones guesses.

OK, so I answer for her, and do not ake her speak. How can I MAKE

her?

God, I logve this kid....I just want to hear momma.

I JUST WANT TO HEAR MIRACLE STORIES FR4OM SOMEONE!!!!!

Please share,

[Guest guest]

not sure of your question. Are you asking if fish oils are

bogus?! Fish oils...bogus? Or are formulas of fish oil bogus?! With

fish oils all that matters are formula, dosage, and quality of the

oil. Formula is VERY important and they are not all the same even if

they look and smell the same.

Also, even if fish oils don't " work " and stimulate speech as they

typically appear to do with a huge majority of our children for some

reason, they are even when they don't " work " essential fatty acids

that our bodies need, can't produce so need to consume, and are

virtually lacking in our diets today. There is no age that doesn't

require them starting prenatal. Even you probably could use one or a

few a day! Really! (not kidding)

I'm still on holiday mode but below is a huge archive which may answer

more of your question (unless I'm not understanding what you think is

bogus)

Below is a new member archive that keeps it simple on what to know to

start.

Re: Hi! New and wondering about apraxia.

Hi Mrs Laurie and welcome!

Your son sounds like he has some oral apraxia which would of course

need to be confirmed by professionals. If oral apraxia is present

together with your child's delay he should at least be diagnosed

as " suspected apraxia " and appropriate therapy should be provided.

He is entitled by federal law to a free and appropriate public

education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) which

means that if 5 days of one on one speech therapy is appropriate for

him then that's what he should receive. What type of speech therapy

is he receiving from the school right now when you say " some " ?

Below is a very long archive to help -please know that you don't have

to understand it all at once -we're here as a group to help!

Thanks for sharing. This group has from the start been a group

that's made up of parents and professionals who care for children

with many types of speech and/or language delays and/or disorders.

There are parents here for example with undiagnosed " late talkers "

and we just have not heard from them in awhile. It's actually a

really good thing when there is a mix of us to share because we all

learn from each other as many diagnoses can overlap -or down the road

we learn that our child does have co diagnosis.

While this group is open to parents of all children with

communication impairments -including hearing impaired, autistic etc.

it wasn't that all that posted recently had a child with autism, or

autism and apraxia -but because of society focus on autism -many here

started following an autism approach -including ABA in some cases!

That's understandable if the much more basic approach to apraxia -ST

and OT and EFAs were tried first and didn't work -but some were

trying that to start.

The overwhelming majority (if you check the archives) have success

with the basic approach to apraxia.

On the other hand- most of us are dealing with more than verbal

apraxia.we just don't know that when our child is 2 -and we learn

through professionals and observations as they continue to grow and

more and more is expected of them. This is also why it's important

to take your child for a neurodevelopmental medical exam when your

child is suspected of apraxia to confirm or rule out other diagnosis

such as sensory integration dysfunction etc. The earlier you know -

the sooner to start appropriate therapies to get them up to speed by

kindergarten.

Don't let it overwhelm you -perhaps we aren't meant to know more

than what we have to know at each stage. We'll be here to help along

the way. It's OK to have any type of emotion when we find out our

child has more than a simple delay -or " more " than " just " verbal

apraxia. And it's OK to be completely overwhelmed and saddened to

find out your child has apraxia. And as I was one of those parents

it's never " just " apraxia when you find out!!!

It's OK to be upset " just " because your child is a " late talker " too!

Please know that I too believed Tanner to just have apraxia and have

my first message posted to a grouplist about that below.but down the

road found out he had a few other things we needed to help him

address. The incredible news is that the majority of our children if

you check history are up to speed to be mainstreamed by kindergarten-

and of course many have learned with communication impaired children

that it's best to start kindergarten at 6 vs. 5 to give them that one

extra year of therapy and developmental time.

If you have questions after reading the following please share them.

This group has always been a wealth of information for all of us, no

matter how long we've been here.

Below is a new member archived message to hopefully answer more of

your questions for now (did you read The Late Talker yet?) For updated

information on fish oils and vitamin E and more - please visit the

links section here

/links

What type of apraxic like speech behaviors are you seeing that makes

you and the SLP suspect your child has apraxia vs. a simple delay in

speech? Is your child talking at all yet? At your child's age -

without speech, it's difficult to diagnose verbal apraxia -they

could " suspect " verbal apraxia and begin treatment just in case,

which wouldn't hurt your child if he ended up just having a simple

delay. Just a few questions before we could provide more accurate

answers:

Does your child have signs of oral apraxia? (for example, can he on

command smile, imitate funny faces, blow bubbles...if you put peanut

butter anywhere around his mouth can he lick it off no matter where

it is?)

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/oralapraxia.html

Does your child have any neurological " soft signs " such as hypotonia

or sensory integration dysfunction?

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/parentfriendlysoftsigns.html

Who else evaluated your child? Was it only the SLP through your

town school or was he also in Early Intervention through the state?

(birth to three) Was he evaluated by both a speech pathologist as

well as an occupational therapist? Was/were they knowledgeable

about apraxia? (If your child wasn't diagnosed by an occupational

therapist as well and professionals suspect apraxia -I highly

recommend you request that too either through both the school as

well as private through insurance for many reasons)

To answer any questions you may have about taking your child to see a

neurodevelopmental MD if he has not yet been to one and apraxia is

suspected... in one word - " Yes!!! " I would have your child diagnosed

(private) by a neurodevelopmental medical doctor (developmental

pediatrician or pediatric neurologist) who is knowledgeable about

apraxia and other neurologically based multi-faceted communication

impairments for numerous reasons. Reasons include (but not limited

to)

*having a " hero " on the outside of the school who can assist in a

therapeutic plan and oversee your child's development over the years

*advocacy support with the insurance company

* ruling out or confirming any neurological soft signs or any other

reasons for the delay in speech

*help those that ask " why isn't he talking yet " understand this is a

medical condition -and has nothing to do with your child's cognitive

ability. (if in your child's case it doesn't. Apraxia in itself

does not affect a child's cognitive ability -and speaking early or

late is no indication of a child's intelligence. Also contrary to

popular belief -most who have speech impairments have average to

above average intelligence)

Here's an article written by Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician Dr.

Marilyn Agin that was featured as a cover article in Contemporary

Pediatrics -a trade magazine for hundreds of thousands of pediatric

medical professionals across the US. (I wrote the parent guide)

" The " late talker " -when silence isn't golden

Not all children with delayed speech are " little Einsteins " or garden

variety " late bloomers. " Some have a speech-language disorder that

will persist unless warning signs are recognized and intervention

comes early. Includes a Guide for Parents. "

Podcast interview with Dr. Marilyn Agin from Contemporary Pediatrics

http://contemporarypediatrics.modernmedicine.com/radio_peds4

Actual article (where you can read it for free)

http://opsc.mediwire.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content & ArticleID=132720

There are also many activities parents can do at home with their

child to

promote the development of speech. These are detailed in the Guide

for Parents

http://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contpeds/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=1363\

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