i need help with diagnosis/treatment/etc

May 18, 2009

Please help! My son has been in speech therapy since he was 18 mths old. He

didn't walk until he was 19 mths old. He started saying a few words around a

year old. He could say " mama " , " dada " , " light " , " flair " (our dog), " hot, hot,

hot " (for the heater), " bye-bye " and a few more random things. He seemed to be

picking up words fairly well. When he didn't walk for so long, we had him

evaluated for PT (the late walking was my initial concern!). A few months

before, and right after he started walking, he started losing the words he had

aquired. His therapists all assurred me that working on a gross motor skill like

walking would take over for a while, but that he would get the words back, plus

some. However, he is now 34 mths old and can only say " dada " (for daddy, pop,

pawpaw, and most other men), " uh-oh " , " uh-uh " (like no..), and he makes

approximations of a few more words. He says " ou " for out, " own " for down, " a-a "

for mama (and granny and nana, and most other women). His word for yes is " oww " .

He is extremely bright and social. He communicates well with other means. He has

several signs, and can get his point across rather nicely...With all of that

said, when I started researching apraxia, I felt like someone hit me in the

chest with a brick! This is my ! I was excited (I know that sounds crazy,

but when you don't know what you're facing, any information is exciting!) and

took all of my new found knowledge to his very young, very inexperienced speech

therapist. I told her I thought he has apraxia. She didn't agree and said that

apraxia is hard to diagnosis if the child isn't talking yet. She says that

apraxia is more about HOW speech sounds rather than whether there is speech or

not...She said that what does say comes out sounding correct (even though

at the time all he was saying was dada and uh-oh). He now has more vowel only

word approximations. Soooo, my question is, how to I approach the therapist

again, and how do I get the help I need, living in a very small rural community

with not a lot of offered services. It is very frustrating knowing that there is

something wrong, but the " professionals " don't really agree. Also, does this

sound like it is even apraxia to anyone? Am I on the right track? I have put in

for an appt with a developmental peditrician, but it takes months to get the

appt. I feel like I'm losing precious time!

Thanks for any input in this matter.

Jill Chaney

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