Guest guest Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 + I am re-posting this as I thought I should put it under a new subject. Any help would be so appreciated. Please give me advice...I have a 4 year old with a vocabulary of a few spontaneous words. We have done neurodevelopmental therapy with him for about 14 months. We just added speech therapy for the past 2 weeks, twice weekly. My son saw a physiatrist yesterday and he is kind of pushing me to get an MRI. He says that the state may not pay for apraxia if there is no reason as to why he has it. I initially went to the physiatrist instead of an neurologist so I wouldn't have to get an MRI but would be able to get a DX which would allow me to get help from the state to pay for therapy. My son does have some serious issues. He has severe apraxia, (verbal, oral, and motor), hypotonia, and a small head (this size of a 24 month old) My son is also small for his age and is underweight and has some thyroid issues. I guess the small head size would be my only consideration in getting the MRI as to see if and where the brain is involved. So I guess I have 2 questions. Does anyone know if the state of Michigan's, Childrens Special Needs Services, will pay for therapy with a dx of apraxia, hypotonia, without the MRI results. And secondly, because of my child's head size being small coupled with the fact that my SLP is suspicious that something else is going on besides apraxia, warrant an MRI? I always deal with everything to do with health naturally so I am at a loss as to what to do. I really am skeptical of the system but want to do the best for my son. I hope I made myself understood and I am really hoping that someone on the group can help me to make the right decision. God bless you all for all that you do to help others with special children. Just another note: I want to thank again for your book. If it wasn't for your book, , I would not have realized I need special speech therapy for my son. We have only had him in speech therapy for a couple of weeks and we have seen some hope. Thank you. Jane www.KidsHealthNaturally.com www.HealthyChatter.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Hi Jane, I have read your posting and am curious if your son has had any genetic testing, the reason I ask is this. My daughter is three and was born with and diagnosed with a genetic condition called Fanconi Anemia(FA) Your son has some of the same conditions and characterists of my daughter, ie. small head, she is three and wears 18mo. clothing, she has hypothyroidism and condutive hearing loss and childhood apraxia. We found out about the FA because she was born with Bi-lateral hypoplastic thumbs, but not all kids born with FA have the thuimb condition, it is a very complex disorder and over the three years treating her for FA she has slowly developed or we have discovered these other problems and apraxia is common for FA patients, here is the web site if you are interested and I would talk to a Geneticist as soon as you can.I wouldn't do any MRI or CT scans or xrays until you have consulted with a Hemotologist/oncologist. Fanconi Anemia Research Fund I hope I could be some help. Christian [ ] Please help me + I am re-posting this as I thought I should put it under a new subject. Any help would be so appreciated. Please give me advice...I have a 4 year old with a vocabulary of a few spontaneous words. We have done neurodevelopmental therapy with him for about 14 months. We just added speech therapy for the past 2 weeks, twice weekly. My son saw a physiatrist yesterday and he is kind of pushing me to get an MRI. He says that the state may not pay for apraxia if there is no reason as to why he has it. I initially went to the physiatrist instead of an neurologist so I wouldn't have to get an MRI but would be able to get a DX which would allow me to get help from the state to pay for therapy. My son does have some serious issues. He has severe apraxia, (verbal, oral, and motor), hypotonia, and a small head (this size of a 24 month old) My son is also small for his age and is underweight and has some thyroid issues. I guess the small head size would be my only consideration in getting the MRI as to see if and where the brain is involved. So I guess I have 2 questions. Does anyone know if the state of Michigan's, Childrens Special Needs Services, will pay for therapy with a dx of apraxia, hypotonia, without the MRI results. And secondly, because of my child's head size being small coupled with the fact that my SLP is suspicious that something else is going on besides apraxia, warrant an MRI? I always deal with everything to do with health naturally so I am at a loss as to what to do. I really am skeptical of the system but want to do the best for my son. I hope I made myself understood and I am really hoping that someone on the group can help me to make the right decision. God bless you all for all that you do to help others with special children. Just another note: I want to thank again for your book. If it wasn't for your book, , I would not have realized I need special speech therapy for my son. We have only had him in speech therapy for a couple of weeks and we have seen some hope. Thank you. Jane www.KidsHealthNaturally.com www.HealthyChatter.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 the best dr to give an Apraxia dx would be a Pediatric Neurologist or a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician. we got ours for my 7dd when she was 4. Just curious- is your son getting special services in your school district? You can have him evaluated by your school at no cost- they will do OT PT, Special Ed and Speech. If he qualifies in at least two areas- they will send him to a special needs preschool, at no cost to you- they cover all that. He would get all his services in school and having school services in place would help justify any outside services you might want to get. We have a Physiatrist for her bone, muscle issues- I've never heard of one dx any Neurological condition--thats what Apraxia is--a neurological condition. all the doctors do communicate with each other so its ok to have both on your team. good luck. > > + > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Jane, Translocations sometimes cause Apraxia as well. This can be ruled out with a quantitative chromosomal analysis. > > Hi Jane, > I have read your posting and am curious if your son has had any genetic testing, the reason I ask is this. > > My daughter is three and was born with and diagnosed with a genetic condition called Fanconi Anemia(FA) > Your son has some of the same conditions and characterists of my daughter, ie. small head, she is three and wears 18mo. clothing, she has hypothyroidism and condutive hearing loss and childhood apraxia. > We found out about the FA because she was born with Bi-lateral hypoplastic thumbs, but not all kids born with FA have the thuimb condition, it is a very complex disorder and over the three years treating her for FA she has slowly developed or we have discovered these other problems and apraxia is common for FA patients, here is the web site if you are interested and I would talk to a Geneticist as soon as you can.I wouldn't do any MRI or CT scans or xrays until you have consulted with a Hemotologist/oncologist. Fanconi Anemia Research Fund I hope I could be some help. > Christian > > [ ] Please help me > > > + > > I am re-posting this as I thought I should put it under a new subject. Any help would be so appreciated. > > Please give me advice...I have a 4 year old with a vocabulary of a few spontaneous words. We have done neurodevelopmental therapy with him for about 14 months. We just added speech therapy for the past 2 weeks, twice weekly. > My son saw a physiatrist yesterday and he is kind of pushing me to get an MRI. He says that the state may not pay for apraxia if there is no reason as to why he has it. I initially went to the physiatrist instead of an neurologist so I wouldn't have to get an MRI but would be able to get a DX which would allow me to get help from the state to pay for therapy. My son does have some serious issues. He has severe apraxia, (verbal, oral, and motor), hypotonia, and a small head (this size of a 24 month old) My son is also small for his age and is underweight and has some thyroid issues. > I guess the small head size would be my only consideration in getting the MRI as to see if and where the brain is involved. So I guess I have 2 questions. Does anyone know if the state of Michigan's, Childrens Special Needs Services, will pay for therapy with a dx of apraxia, hypotonia, without the MRI results. And secondly, because of my child's head size being small coupled with the fact that my SLP is suspicious that something else is going on besides apraxia, warrant an MRI? I always deal with everything to do with health naturally so I am at a loss as to what to do. I really am skeptical of the system but want to do the best for my son. > I hope I made myself understood and I am really hoping that someone on the group can help me to make the right decision. > God bless you all for all that you do to help others with special children. > Just another note: > I want to thank again for your book. If it wasn't for your book, , I would not have realized I need special speech therapy for my son. We have only had him in speech therapy for a couple of weeks and we have seen some hope. Thank you. > Jane > www.KidsHealthNaturally.com > www.HealthyChatter.com > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 I chose to do the genetic testing (just a blood test) before an MRI. He had fragile X testing around age 4 and later more detailed chromosome testing. Both were negative. We also did sleep deprived EEG to check for epileptic aphasia (minimally traumatic - testing was on the 5th of July so it was also easy to keep him up late!) and then a second sleep induced (swallowed a pill) EEG. The EEGs were done when he was almost 6. Both were negative. We are now pursuing MRI testing - he's 7.5 and they prefer no sedation at this age. However, my son has no physical delays or differences (large for his age, but on his curve consistently), no hypotonia, etc. He has mostly resolved apraxia and an undefined language disorder which looks aphasic and a slew of misdiagnoses (autism, SDI, etc.) He also has a history of head trauma (hairline skull fracture on the right side due to a fall.) Since lesions in the Broca region can cause both apraxia and aphasia (the kind of aphasia that matches his symptoms) we figured it's worth knowing at this point. Miche On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 5:44 PM, jtag57 <jmj4life83@...> wrote: > + > > , > > Would it be better to get genetic testing first before and MRI? I really am > hesitant about the MRI but will do it if necessary. My son is having an > irregular heartbeat, which I discovered this past week as I laid my head on > his chest to comfort him. I was told from an ND it could be the Omega 3's. > So I will cut them out for the next couple of days to see if that helps. > > Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 The only thing with that is once you find a good genetics doctor, get an appointment, get blood drawn--it can take 6-8 weeks to get good results back. An MRI can be done by a good Ped Neurologist in a less than a couple weeks. My daughter has her genetics dr in NYC. He has found a deletion on one of her chromosomes..and has said that a lot of the kids he sees with these issues- do have Apraxia. But a genetics dr might like to know that the MRI is already out of the way so he can see the results too!! > > + > > , > > Would it be better to get genetic testing first before and MRI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Jeez, thats a scary thought. My dd is also 7.5 and we did a 3hr MRI last Sprig and she was under GA for 3hrs. She had genetic testing at birth which is eassy and didnt show any deformities. It depends on what the doctors find. It wasnt till we went to the genetics specialist that the deformity was found...which did explain part of the Apraxia.You could find a genetics dr- get the blood drawn and get an mri while waiting for genetics results. I have not had any kind of choices as to which order things go in. We do MRI's EEG's and Genetic testing as the need arises. It really depends on your childs situation and what tests the dr orders first. There are many types of MRI's. She has had one of just her head and the one last year of neck/ and full spine. Find a good doctor who can help you with your decisions. >> testing - he's 7.5 and they prefer no sedation at this age. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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