Re: 21 m.o.

[Guest guest]

It's so nice to have people here who completely understand! I have had the same

experiences with my son who's now 26 months old. We had him evaluated at 14.5

months because we thought he had autistic tendencies (spinning on floor,

spinning rings, very quiet and removed, etc.). He developed those tendencies

immediately following his 1 yr vaccinations. We stopped all vaccines after that.

Amazingly, our little guy came back to us socially after about 4 months and

these tendencies disappeared. He is very loving, gives lots of kisses, loves

other children and is extremely interactive with us. However, his speech is

still 6 months behind, even though he is on par or ahead in other areas

(cognitive, social skills, etc.). He says 41 words (I keep track on the fridge)

- about 15 words he uses routinely. The others - just like your daughter - he

said once. We know he said them, he said it very clearly, but would not say it

again. You start to wonder, " am I sure he really said it? " He said " circle " in

December and didn't say it again until 3 days ago. Now it's become one of his

regular words. I have no idea why, except to say that he was sick a lot and in

pain due to teething issues for awhile btwn December and now. His SLP says that

he may have volitional speech apraxia - meaning he doesn't respond well under

pressure to repeat or say words. He tends to say more new words when we're not

paying attention. His words he does say aren't real clear - " gah " is dog. " a "

for apple. " dat-dat " is night-night. He chokes on water or liquids easily and

spits them out down his shirt- it's hard to get fluids in him! He chokes easily

on some food and still eats some baby foods. I started the ProEFA in mid-April

and believe it helps - he's gotten 8 new words since then and babbles more

frequently. He had tubes put in his ears at 21 months due to fluid pressure (no

real history of ear infections, just lots of fluid and pressure). He seems to

feel better since then. He also teethes really hard and supposedly had acid

reflux as a baby (I'm now wondering whether it was more inability to control how

quickly he drank rather than acid reflux).

The big thing I've noticed is that my son is extremely sensitive to pain. His

words stop when he's in pain or sick. So, since he was in pain for a large part

of his early life due to fluid in his ears or teething or from other illnesses,

it makes sense to me that his speech is behind. I wonder how many young (under

age 2) apraxic kids have pain somewhere or something they're sensitive to

(allergy, etc.) that they can't tell us about that contributes to a speech delay

or apraxia. Lots of times, the kids I've met or heard about with speech delays

are very sensitive (many have been diagnosed with sensory integration

dysfunction) and oftentimes are very sweet and emotionally responsive

(heightened sensitivity to others' pain, feelings, etc.)

I am continuing speech therapy once/week with my son and (like you) hope it

helps. He is going to go to a twice weekly (2 hr) preschool in September which

should help him try out some more words. If nothing else, he'll get to hear

other kids talking more and maybe make some little friends. It's a relaxed place

just to have fun, not push ABCs or anything at age 2. I'm excited for him since

he likes other kids a lot. We'll see how it goes. I am also taking him to a

developmental pediatrician in July to talk about the feeding issues.

I just wanted to let everyone responding to these posts know - I'm in the same

boat. It's a rocky one, but it's nice to know there are others right there in it

with you. I'd love to know if someone's child had a similar profile to my son

and others responding to this post and is now 4 or 5 and how they've progressed.

Best wishes to all.

>

> I don't have any advise for you but to say I feel your frustration.  I have a

22 m.o. daughter who I first noticed as a 'quiet' child at 8-9 months.  At 12

months she was saying at most one word approximation.  I had her evaluated by EI

at 17 months and was told she did not qualify because she was only behind in 1

area and that they did not even think there was anything productive one could do

in speech therapy at this age anyway.  I had my daughter re-evaluated by EI at

21 months.  At 21mo she had 5 words or word approximations.  I had done some of

my own research and wanted to get the ball rolling since we are expecting again

in a few weeks.  I was trying not to get excited or worried but had read about

Apraxia.  My daughter would belt out a word like 'blocks' or 'that' perfectly

but then never use it again.  It seemed she would even loose sounds for a few

weeks like 'dadada; or 'lalalal'.  EI again told me even though she was 6 months

behind

> she did not qualify because it was the only area she was behind and that her

receptive language was actually beyond 21 mo.  I specifically asked EI about

Apraxia, sharing the issues about forgetting words and sounds, that she chokes

more often than average when drinking, she had few consonants and her few words

were mostly approximations.  At the same time it was obvious she did not have

any oral weaknesses and she has good variation in pitch.  EI told me she was

definitely NOT appraxic that she would have a lot of other issues she was.  They

said they wouldn't even recommend going to a private practice for a eval because

she was clearly excelling in all other areas.  I did not mention I had a eval

scheduled with a private practice in 5 days.  The private speech therapist

diagnosed my daughter with Apraxia immediately.  I shared with her what I was

told by EI and she was shocked.  She explained why she did Dx Apraxia and they

were all the things

> I had already know and noted myself.  I am still fuming about this issue.  My

daughter has been going to therapy once a week since receiving the Dx (though

that has been only 4 weeks) and I do seem some improvement.  It's hard to tell

if it is her development or the therapy.  Either way it is worth the investment

to me.  I do worry that down the line it may be difficult to stay on top of my

daughters needs as she enters into school. 

>  

> I wish I had advise for you but it seems others here do.  I just wanted to

show my support.

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