Introductions, questions & a Hello!

[Guest guest]

Hi! I have been " lurking " on this board for maybe a couple weeks now. I am

writing to introduce myself, our situation, ask a couple questions, and say

hello to fellow parents in similar situations!

We are a homeschooling family in Central NJ. Our 3rd born (we have 4) is 3 years

2 months old and has very few words. He is extremely bright in all other areas

receptively and even expressively with gestures. We utilized early intervention

speech therapy services for about 4 months before he turned 3. We have had 4

independent speech evals, as well as a pediatric neurological eval done in the

past 8 months and all basically point to apraxia - all lead to requiring intense

individual speech therapy sessions multiple times per week.

With that, first question here:

Does anyone homeschool their young apraxic child and utilize the public school

for speech only services? Is that a possibility? We have gone through the public

school IEP process and know that our little guy qualifies for services, the

initial IEP however, states that he would receive only 1 half hour individual

session 1x per week and 1 half hour small group session 1x per week. We do not

want to give up his other private therapy sessions by enrolling him full time in

a program 6 hours per day - with a group of 15 students max and up to 6 can be

classified with and IEP (either for speech or other behavior issues). Our son

would not be able to come home and tell us what happens during the day and

whether he is having problems, having fun, or whatnot. We worry that our very

well socially adjusted and academically bright 3 year old would go backwards if

enrolled 5 full days for 6 hours per day. As an aside, we do PLENTY to ensure he

has ample opportunity to " speak " during the day with his siblings, his friends

and us. We have multiple " group " activities we are involved in. So that is not

an issue. Also - I am a state certified teacher with a bachelors in early

childhood education doubled with psychology. I used to teach in the same program

he would be enrolled in.

Second Question:

Does anyone receive speech therapy and have Aetna insurance? How did you go

about getting speech therapy covered? We are currently paying out of pocket (and

MAN is it expensive, my next career will be a private speech therapist!!!).

Anyway, any tips for getting speech covered in a child who hasn't had speech to

lose it?

Third question:

Does anyone use the supplement called " Speak " for the fish oils? I found the

capsules online and have been giving them to our son for maybe a week. Can they

really work? Yesterday our son came to me while I was in bed for the very first

time and used verbal language to ask me to do something - he said " Tu - off "

while pointing to the tag on his pillow - he wanted me to take the tag off. I

was ecstatic as this was the VERY FIRST time he initiated. Earlier in the day he

told me " down " very clearly when I picked up a toy from the floor of the van.

Prior to yesterday he had never really said anything other than more, mama,

dada. I really was just very interested in whether or not it was the capsules,

private therapy or combination. The supplement can be found here:

http://www.speechnutrients.com/

Finally, I have seen quite a few members from the NJ area, is this a local

apraxia board? I was surprised at how many messages come through with NJ in

them. If anyone is in central NJ I would love to hear which speech therapist you

are using and if you have a good neurologist. We are contemplating a 2nd opinion

on that end since I wasn't overly thrilled with the one we saw.

Looking forward to learning more about this perplexing stage of life we're at!

God Bless,

Theresa