Confused

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My daughter is 26 months and was recently evaluated by our Regional

Center for speech therapy. She had 3 intake sessions, and one of the

evaluators diagnosed my daughter as apraxic after being with my

daughter for about half an hour. She didn't tell me what that meant,

so I have been reading up on it. The last evaluator said my daughter

definitely wasn't, just a stubborn late bloomer, so now I'm really

confused. I was told that all the evaluators are going to meet up,

compare notes, and then send me information on my daughter's status

for speech therapy. I would like to understand as much as possible

the possible disorders so when we get the official diagnosis, it's

the right one and my daughter is getting the right kind of care.

My daughter started saying mama and dada at around 10 months, and we

thought she was going to be an early talker. After that, she didn't

say much else, and if we would say a word to her, she didn't really

seem interested to try to imitate us. She did start saying hi and

bye-bye and simple stuff like that at around 18 months, and at some

point she learned " no " and " go " which she uses non-stop. She has

always babbled endlessly, and is known as a goof-ball since she has a

very expressive face, has no feeding or eating issues, and also likes

to mimic animal noises, which she can mimic quite well.

Now since we have had the evaluation, she has all of a sudden taken

an interest in actually trying to talk! Now if I say a word to her

she will try to say it after me. However, her consonants are all

over the place or not at all, so even though she is trying to talk,

she is not understandable AT ALL. However, because of the context of

each situation, I know she has the intention of trying to talk. Like

tonight I gave her mango, and she said " nambo " - I would try to

simplify the sounds just saying " ma " then " go " seeing if she could

just say " ma-go " since mama and go are her favorite most used words -

she would follow me and say " ma " then " go " seperately just fine. So,

I would say, " great! Mango! " And then she would smile and

say " nambo! "

Sorry my post is long. But it is just confusing! Some of the stuff

I read on apraxia seems appropriate to my daughter, and sometimes it

doesn't sound like her at all. Can someone sort of be apraxic? Any

thoughts from more experienced moms would be helpful. I have read so

many horror stories of kids getting the wrong diagnosis and then

getting treatment that wasn't appropriate for them. I just want my

daughter to get the right kind of help.

Thanks,

Emilie