Re: A bit about Nyteglori and her Twinkies (I am new here)

[Guest guest]

Hi and welcome!

It does appear that you are 'on it' in trying to find out why your children are

speech delayed- and based on what you wrote here it does sound like they have

signs of apraxia. I get annoyed when they throw around CAPD as a possible

diagnosis for a child that is 2 and a half! Unless I'm misunderstanding.

Certainly if your children understand (which sounds like they do) there is going

to be a certain level of frustration. Not to fear because down the road the

positive side effect of this appears to be a phenomenal memory...but right now

we need to see what we can do to help you secure appropriate diagnosis -so you

can get your children into an appropriate preschool placement. As far as autism

I would seek at least 2 opinions from professionals that are knowledgeable about

communication disorders outside of and including autism. I'd stick to an SLP,

OT, and neuromedical exam from either a pediatric neurologist or developmental

pediatrician. The only reason I recommend the neuroMD exam as well is that it

does appear apraxia is suspected- so you'll want to confirm or rule out soft

signs (more on that in the archive below) I'd stay away from a psychological

exam for a 2 and a half year old for diagnosis unless it's someone who is the

exception to the rule as there are far too many that receive a misdiagnosis of

autism -and unless your child/children are autistic -you don't want autism

therapy. There is a new belief that apraxia and other conditions like it are

all " forms of autism " but the umbrella is so large now that we all have some

form of autism. That's fine -but traditional autism therapy; ABA -it's not only

inappropriate and a waste of time and money -but can be detrimental to treat

apraxia. I have much more on this if needed. If your child is both autistic

and apraxia then a modified ABA by a professional that is knowledgeable about

motor planning disorders would be appropriate.

Sign language is great so please don't stop that. There are SO many reasons

it's wonderful for our children including reducing frustration as probably the

number one...but there is research that when one signs it benefits the same area

of the brain for speech- so a very good thing! I have much more on this for

anyone that wants to read up more on this.

Let us know what state/country you are in and whatever questions you have after

reading below.

Below is a new member archive that keeps it simple on what to know to

start.

Re: Hi! New and wondering about apraxia.

Hi Mrs Laurie and welcome!

Your son sounds like he has some oral apraxia which would of course

need to be confirmed by professionals. If oral apraxia is present

together with your child's delay he should at least be diagnosed

as " suspected apraxia " and appropriate therapy should be provided.

He is entitled by federal law to a free and appropriate public

education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) which

means that if 5 days of one on one speech therapy is appropriate for

him then that's what he should receive. What type of speech therapy

is he receiving from the school right now when you say " some " ?

Below is a very long archive to help -please know that you don't have

to understand it all at once -we're here as a group to help!

Thanks for sharing. This group has from the start been a group

that's made up of parents and professionals who care for children

with many types of speech and/or language delays and/or disorders.

There are parents here for example with undiagnosed " late talkers "

and we just have not heard from them in awhile. It's actually a

really good thing when there is a mix of us to share because we all

learn from each other as many diagnoses can overlap -or down the road

we learn that our child does have co diagnosis.

While this group is open to parents of all children with

communication impairments -including hearing impaired, autistic etc.

it wasn't that all that posted recently had a child with autism, or

autism and apraxia -but because of society focus on autism -many here

started following an autism approach -including ABA in some cases!

That's understandable if the much more basic approach to apraxia -ST

and OT and EFAs were tried first and didn't work -but some were

trying that to start.

The overwhelming majority (if you check the archives) have success

with the basic approach to apraxia.

On the other hand- most of us are dealing with more than verbal

apraxia.we just don't know that when our child is 2 -and we learn

through professionals and observations as they continue to grow and

more and more is expected of them. This is also why it's important

to take your child for a neurodevelopmental medical exam when your

child is suspected of apraxia to confirm or rule out other diagnosis

such as sensory integration dysfunction etc. The earlier you know -

the sooner to start appropriate therapies to get them up to speed by

kindergarten.

Don't let it overwhelm you -perhaps we aren't meant to know more

than what we have to know at each stage. We'll be here to help along

the way. It's OK to have any type of emotion when we find out our

child has more than a simple delay -or " more " than " just " verbal

apraxia. And it's OK to be completely overwhelmed and saddened to

find out your child has apraxia. And as I was one of those parents

it's never " just " apraxia when you find out!!!

It's OK to be upset " just " because your child is a " late talker " too!

Please know that I too believed Tanner to just have apraxia and have

my first message posted to a grouplist about that below.but down the

road found out he had a few other things we needed to help him

address. The incredible news is that the majority of our children if

you check history are up to speed to be mainstreamed by kindergarten-

and of course many have learned with communication impaired children

that it's best to start kindergarten at 6 vs. 5 to give them that one

extra year of therapy and developmental time.

If you have questions after reading the following please share them.

This group has always been a wealth of information for all of us, no

matter how long we've been here.

Below is a new member archived message to hopefully answer more of

your questions for now (did you read The Late Talker yet?) For updated

information on fish oils and vitamin E and more - please visit the

links section here

/links

What type of apraxic like speech behaviors are you seeing that makes

you and the SLP suspect your child has apraxia vs. a simple delay in

speech? Is your child talking at all yet? At your child's age -

without speech, it's difficult to diagnose verbal apraxia -they

could " suspect " verbal apraxia and begin treatment just in case,

which wouldn't hurt your child if he ended up just having a simple

delay. Just a few questions before we could provide more accurate

answers:

Does your child have signs of oral apraxia? (for example, can he on

command smile, imitate funny faces, blow bubbles...if you put peanut

butter anywhere around his mouth can he lick it off no matter where

it is?)

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/oralapraxia.html

Does your child have any neurological " soft signs " such as hypotonia

or sensory integration dysfunction?

http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/parentfriendlysoftsigns.html

Who else evaluated your child? Was it only the SLP through your

town school or was he also in Early Intervention through the state?

(birth to three) Was he evaluated by both a speech pathologist as

well as an occupational therapist? Was/were they knowledgeable

about apraxia? (If your child wasn't diagnosed by an occupational

therapist as well and professionals suspect apraxia -I highly

recommend you request that too either through both the school as

well as private through insurance for many reasons)

To answer any questions you may have about taking your child to see a

neurodevelopmental MD if he has not yet been to one and apraxia is

suspected... in one word - " Yes!!! " I would have your child diagnosed

(private) by a neurodevelopmental medical doctor (developmental

pediatrician or pediatric neurologist) who is knowledgeable about

apraxia and other neurologically based multi-faceted communication

impairments for numerous reasons. Reasons include (but not limited

to)

*having a " hero " on the outside of the school who can assist in a

therapeutic plan and oversee your child's development over the years

*advocacy support with the insurance company

* ruling out or confirming any neurological soft signs or any other

reasons for the delay in speech

*help those that ask " why isn't he talking yet " understand this is a

medical condition -and has nothing to do with your child's cognitive

ability. (if in your child's case it doesn't. Apraxia in itself

does not affect a child's cognitive ability -and speaking early or

late is no indication of a child's intelligence. Also contrary to

popular belief -most who have speech impairments have average to

above average intelligence)

Here's an article written by Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician Dr.

Marilyn Agin that was featured as a cover article in Contemporary

Pediatrics -a trade magazine for hundreds of thousands of pediatric

medical professionals across the US. (I wrote the parent guide)

" The " late talker " -when silence isn't golden

Not all children with delayed speech are " little Einsteins " or garden

variety " late bloomers. " Some have a speech-language disorder that

will persist unless warning signs are recognized and intervention

comes early. Includes a Guide for Parents. "

Podcast interview with Dr. Marilyn Agin from Contemporary Pediatrics

http://contemporarypediatrics.modernmedicine.com/radio_peds4

Actual article (where you can read it for free)

http://opsc.mediwire.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content & ArticleID=132720

There are also many activities parents can do at home with their

child to

promote the development of speech. These are detailed in the Guide

for Parents

http://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contpeds/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=1363\

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15.

This guide was written by

[Guest guest]

Sign language does NOT prevent any baby or child from verbal talking.

As a matter of fact, it is known to increase IQ and also sign language uses the

front right temporal lobe of the brain. Verbalness is customarily strictly in

the left hemisphere Let your speech therapist be aware of this.

Can give you resources to print if you like.

[Guest guest]

-You said they passed hearing screening as newborns, have they been tested since

then? I would have that checked first, then a speech eval. Many on this site

have gone to the nuerologist too (we haven't) for a dx. Since they are coming

up to their 3rd bday, call your local school district to let them know that

you'd like them to be evaluated for a multi-factored evaluation and explain your

concerns about your children, also put this in writing to start a time line for

the district (I think once it's written they have 60 days to eval and get a

report to you). If they qualify for services as preschoolers (federal law - all

schools are responsible for providing service (speech, OT, PT, APE,etc) to any

child ages 3 - 21 yrs; if they don't have a program they can send you to another

school district (they either transport or pick up the transportation cost) or do

home therapy or walk-in therapy.

You mention deafness in the family - are they around non-speaking family members

a lot, maybe they are just doing what they've learned/seen? Just another

thought, but I'd check out the other things I mentioned too. YOu didn't

mention, I'm assuming you're from the US?

Good luck,

Bonnie

--

[Guest guest]

One can pass a newborn hearing screen and still have significant hearing loss to

be determned at a later date. There are many types of hearing loss.