Re: Proposed IEP report / hypotonia

[Guest guest]

The occupational therapists or OTs play a large part in working with

children with apraxia because they help with kinetics- motion -which

helps stimulate speech even if there are no other issues which in the

case of a child diagnosed with apraxia is rare. But OTs help with

many other aspects -they help with sensory therapies since many have

some amount of sensory integration dysfunction- OTs also help with

fine motor skill issues- perhaps some gross one too -but physical

therapists typically do that. Fine motor skills problems will

address being able to hold and use a pencil correctly for example.

And for those with hypotonia or low tone -they help with

strengthening therapies. Hypotonia is extremely common with apraxia -

but it's typically mild. For hypotonia there is a wealth of

activities that the OTs do in practice and some of the same and

others that we can do at home that are fun for our kids (so they

don't even know it's " therapy " )

Typically and OT and SLP work together to compliment each other's

therapies. For example the OT may take a bunch of different colored

beads and squish them into a ball of clay. The child will have to

pull all of the beads out of the clay and put each each colored bead

in the matching colored cup and say the color with each one. If

apraxic -the OT will know how to provide a model for that child

because he or she is working with that child's SLP.

The goal is to get your child up to speed prior to first grade where

they will be expected to sit upright in a chair for long periods of

time and hold a pencil. From this group (and my own son) it's

reported that the feeling in their muscles where they are affected by

hypotonia feels a " burning " if used longer than they are used to.

Probably the same feeling any of us would get during exercise if you

get " muscle burn " The problem as I stated in the past archive is

that many of these children are unable to articulate what they are

feeling beyond simple sounds in many cases. You can just imagine

their frustration. This is why a neurodevelopmental exam is highly

recommended if apraxia is diagnosed -to confirm or rule out

mild " soft signs " such as hypotonia.

You may have missed it but I just posted a huge archived message

about hypotonia and this comes up very frequently in this group (or

it did when we spoke about traditional therapies more)

If you can't access this message let me know and I'll get it to you.

/message/77374

See if you see the parent friendly signs of hypotonia and let us know.

If you do -you would need a neuroMD exam to confirm or rule out.

(best place to start)

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