New and Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hi, I am new to this group and have gone in search of assistance because I am

not sure if my child is receiving the services he needs.

My DH and I first noticed our second child's speech problems at around 18

months. We first asked our Ped about and were told not to worry until he was 2

and could not put 5 two word phrases together. At 2 he couldn't do that (heck

he wasn't even really saying mama or dada...he would occasionally get a new

word, say it for a day, and we would never hear it again). We got the referral.

He was evaluated 6 weeks later by Children's Hospital for both speech and

hearing. He passed his hearing just fine, but the lady recommended contacting

Early Intervention as he was way behind. About 2 months later we got both

private speech therapy and Early Intervention started.

He was behind enough on his speech that 2 months later when they had an opening

in the Toddler preschool group he got accepted into it for 4 half days a week.

He was there for 6 months till he aged out of Early Intervention and started

services through school. Due to when he transitioned in, he was there maybe 6

weeks (he aged in 2 days before spring break started so didn't start till after

spring break). We truly miss his Early Intervention program as they did so much

for him - worked on sign language with him and us for basic needs; did a lot of

individual work with getting him to talk (1 of 5 kids with 1 teacher and like 2

aides - plus he had speech therapy there as well).

I believe his original diagnosis from the formal eval at the Hospital was Speech

Apraxia. (I will have to go through and dig out all the forms, but I do

remember those terms being in the formal results we received).

He has gone through 2 years of one on one private speech therapy one day a week

for 30 minutes. He also has a 20-30 minute group therapy session with a school

based speech therapist once a week. Per the school therapist he does not always

get a session every week, that due to her schedule at the beginning and end of

school they often don't work with the kids much those weeks, but make it up

during the interim weeks.

He just got his annual re-eval from his private speech therapist...and here is

what he scored....

PLS -4: Receptive at the 98% SC of 130

PLS -4: Expressive at 58% SC of 103

PLS -4: Total Language at 88% SC of 118

GFTA -2 at 4% SC of 67

Also, at school they administered the " Get it, Got it, Go " test and he scored

like a 33.

Right now we are on summer break from school till the end of August. We are

loosing his private speech therapist any time now as she is pregnant and then

not returning to her employment. We will go back on the waiting list at the

place he receives private speech therapy, but due to a shortage of staff they

have no clue when we will get re-started...we could get a new therapist next

week or next year.

My main concerns are if he is receiving enough services in school. He is not

receiving any one on one speech at school or work with the teacher, except on

some behavior stuff due to his independence from his speech delay. He is 4

years 3 months of age right now. At EI he was being taught some of the basic

signs, but they are not doing that at the public school nor are they following

through with him using what he knows. A huge part of me wants to work on

teaching him the signs so he can communicate more, but I don't know where to

even begin with that.

He is very bright, but often will not show it. I am not sure if that is because

he doesn't have the words to express what he knows or because he is afraid to

express it.

[Guest guest]

I had the same experience going from EI to school district services.

EI was all about doing everything they could for her and then the

school district wanted to get away with doing as little as possible.

I believe their favorite phrases were " appropriate education " and

" educational benefit " , always reminding me they didn't have to fix

her, just do the less possible for her to still be able to recieve

some sort of education, however poor that may be. I felt my time was

better spent fighting the insurance company to pay for private therapy

with a therapist of my choosing then to fight to have her see more of

a therapist who doesn't really understand apraxia. She still goes to

school provided therapy during the school year but it's more just a

bonus (when it actually happens because her therapist was a bit of a

flake, frequently cancelling on us). However there are lots of

resources for people who want to fight the IEP, whether that mean

getting more time, higher frequency, or having the school district pay

for private therapy with a therapist who can provide therapy that is

appropriate for apraxia (ask me or the group if you want some links to

resources). I can't say for certain how appropriate what the school

district is providing based on your test scores because I don't know

much about them, but I can say for certain that group therapy is never

really recommended for children with apraxia (see article

http://www.speechpathology.com/askexpert/display_question.asp?question_id=299).

For one, most children are not struggling with the same issues as

ours and ours will not benefit from the same therapy approach as them.

Also in terms of the scoring, do you have previous score to compare

it to? I know that with our school district the best way you can

convince them to provide more is to show a lack of progress, so if

previous test scores are similar and don't show reasonable growth than

what they are providing is NOT appropriate. Same goes for the IEP

goals, you need to see progress towards those goals. In my own

experience though the best way to convince the school therapist to

provide the type of therapy you know is best for your child is to be

extra friendly. Fighting the school doesn't make you or your child

any friends, and as they say you catch more flies with honey. Share

apraxia articles with your therapist in the spirit of kindness. Give

it to her saying you were really excited to run across this and was

curious what her professional opinion was. It shows you respect her

training but also gives her the chance to learn something new and

possibly want to try it out. Apraxia-kids.org has a lot of good

articles in their library. Try and keep in mind that most therapists

who get in to working with the school district got into it because

they love kids and wanted to make a difference, they could certainly

be making alot more working privately. Also your therapist can be

your best advocate for making changes to the IEP.

Unfortunately it seems like helping our children to achieve the most

they can is completely up to us parents. What area are you in? You

may want to consider asking for recommendations for other therapists

in the area if the wait will be long where you guys are currently

going. Also in my opinion the sign language is great for our kids,

helps reduce frustration, and with my daughter the physical aspect of

it is a miracle worker. I'm not sure if it's because speaking and

signing requires her to not focus so much on her mouth that it flows

out easier or just the physical movement helps to strengthen that

connection but it helps her speech so much when she uses sign language

in conjunction. She said her first sentence using her signs as a

prompt. There are lots of great websites for sign language which I'll

include at the bottom, and we really enjoyed the signing time videos

(you can rent them from many local libraries or buy them on amazon)

and the baby babble videos have some signing too. With my daughter I

just pick about 5 signs I am going to work on that week and try and

work them in where ever I can. I always say the word as I sign it,

and use my hands to help her form the sign at first because most of us

know the motor planning is rarely confined to just the mouth. It's

best to start with the words that will be most useful (relieve

frustration) and relevant to the child. Most start with things like

more, eat, drink, hungry, tired, etc. My daughter has been having

trouble expressing herself emotionally lately and getting overwhelmed

and expressing it physically (hitting, biting, pushing) instead so

this week were are working on some feeling signs. She can't say half

the stuff she signs, but she always attempts it and that's what

matters the most to me. Her speech confidence was so low at first she

didn't even try to communicate and attempts were few and far between

but now she tries almost everything and I attribute a lot of that to

her learning that she could communicate effectively using the signs.

She's gone from about 5 words, no phrases to about 75-100 words,

combining in up to a 5 word sentence (same one " I want more xxxx

please " only while signing) in a bit less than a year. Her

articulation isn't perfect but that is still amazing to me seeing how

far behind she was at 2 1/2. And to be honest alot of the progress

I've seen with her is from things I've done not the therapists.

Taking your child for walks in the park and talking about all the

amazing things you see, and reading books, and creating meaningful

memories is a lot more likely to create a desire to communicate and a

strong lasting impress (read stronger neural connections!). I

personally am pursuing a lot more than speech therapy. I do biomed

(theres a great apraxia biomed community on ), we are gfcfsf, We

work on auditory processing, vision training ,core strength, neuro

reorganization and developmental movement, oral motor work,

craniosacral therapy, and integrate a ton of sensory input. I do

alot of speech work at home, we work on both receptive and expressive,

and I always take what the therapist is working on and really drill it

in at home, trying to find ways to work the sound or pattern the

therapist is focusing on into anything I can. Also my daughter is

hyperlexic so the starfall website has be amazing in helping her.

When our therapist was working on T/D endings (pot, pet, pea pod, pet,

bed, etc) I went to the reading section and did the -ot and -et ending

words and she picked it up so quickly!

Something to keep in mind is that every child is different as is each

family. Biomed may not be the route every family wants to pursue, but

it's done so much for her. You need to expect to be spending

countless hours in front of your computer and reading books trying to

find the combination of approaches that works best for your child.

Prompt was wonderful for Abbey, however I also know an apraxic child

who was so sensory defensive that trying prompt just stressed him out

and his speech actually regressed for awhile. Join more groups! Try

the apraxia-kids.org boards. Read, read, read. You know your child

best and will find out what works best for him. Good luck!

Signing resources:

http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/concepts.htm

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm

http://www.signingsavvy.com/

http://www.signwithme.com/

There are plenty more but I really don't use much else. I only teach

her ASL signs so I don't do the baby signing books but thats really a

personal preference. Most of those sites have videos for each sign so

you can see it done, which is really helpful. However the library is

also a great resource if you feel you'd be able to visualize it well

enough to do it from text or a picture. The benefit to that is you

can have a guide with you even when your not at your computer.

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 8:56 PM, khaoskat<khaoskat@...> wrote:

>

>

> Hi, I am new to this group and have gone in search of assistance because I

> am not sure if my child is receiving the services he needs.

>

> My DH and I first noticed our second child's speech problems at around 18

> months. We first asked our Ped about and were told not to worry until he was

> 2 and could not put 5 two word phrases together. At 2 he couldn't do that

> (heck he wasn't even really saying mama or dada...he would occasionally get

> a new word, say it for a day, and we would never hear it again). We got the

> referral. He was evaluated 6 weeks later by Children's Hospital for both

> speech and hearing. He passed his hearing just fine, but the lady

> recommended contacting Early Intervention as he was way behind. About 2

> months later we got both private speech therapy and Early Intervention

> started.

>

> He was behind enough on his speech that 2 months later when they had an

> opening in the Toddler preschool group he got accepted into it for 4 half

> days a week. He was there for 6 months till he aged out of Early

> Intervention and started services through school. Due to when he

> transitioned in, he was there maybe 6 weeks (he aged in 2 days before spring

> break started so didn't start till after spring break). We truly miss his

> Early Intervention program as they did so much for him - worked on sign

> language with him and us for basic needs; did a lot of individual work with

> getting him to talk (1 of 5 kids with 1 teacher and like 2 aides - plus he

> had speech therapy there as well).

>

> I believe his original diagnosis from the formal eval at the Hospital was

> Speech Apraxia. (I will have to go through and dig out all the forms, but I

> do remember those terms being in the formal results we received).

>

> He has gone through 2 years of one on one private speech therapy one day a

> week for 30 minutes. He also has a 20-30 minute group therapy session with a

> school based speech therapist once a week. Per the school therapist he does

> not always get a session every week, that due to her schedule at the

> beginning and end of school they often don't work with the kids much those

> weeks, but make it up during the interim weeks.

>

> He just got his annual re-eval from his private speech therapist...and here

> is what he scored....

>

> PLS -4: Receptive at the 98% SC of 130

> PLS -4: Expressive at 58% SC of 103

> PLS -4: Total Language at 88% SC of 118

>

> GFTA -2 at 4% SC of 67

>

> Also, at school they administered the " Get it, Got it, Go " test and he

> scored like a 33.

>

> Right now we are on summer break from school till the end of August. We are

> loosing his private speech therapist any time now as she is pregnant and

> then not returning to her employment. We will go back on the waiting list at

> the place he receives private speech therapy, but due to a shortage of staff

> they have no clue when we will get re-started...we could get a new therapist

> next week or next year.

>

> My main concerns are if he is receiving enough services in school. He is not

> receiving any one on one speech at school or work with the teacher, except

> on some behavior stuff due to his independence from his speech delay. He is

> 4 years 3 months of age right now. At EI he was being taught some of the

> basic signs, but they are not doing that at the public school nor are they

> following through with him using what he knows. A huge part of me wants to

> work on teaching him the signs so he can communicate more, but I don't know

> where to even begin with that.

>

> He is very bright, but often will not show it. I am not sure if that is

> because he doesn't have the words to express what he knows or because he is

> afraid to express it.

>

>

[Guest guest]

By the way the group has a whole section with useful information... I

was looking for it earlier in files only to find it's really in the

links section...

IEPs:

/links/IEP_links_0011833\

85956/

Sign Language:

/links/Sign_Language_and\

_PE_001183848342/

At Home Therapy:

/links/Therapy_Ideas___F\

or__001185484904/

On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 11:55 PM, Tegan Hidde<teegaaan@...> wrote:

> I had the same experience going from EI to school district services.

> EI was all about doing everything they could for her and then the

> school district wanted to get away with doing as little as possible.

> I believe their favorite phrases were " appropriate education " and

> " educational benefit " , always reminding me they didn't have to fix

> her, just do the less possible for her to still be able to recieve

> some sort of education, however poor that may be.  I felt my time was

> better spent fighting the insurance company to pay for private therapy

> with a therapist of my choosing then to fight to have her see more of

> a therapist who doesn't really understand apraxia.  She still goes to

> school provided therapy during the school year but it's more just a

> bonus (when it actually happens because her therapist was a bit of a

> flake, frequently cancelling on us).  However there are lots of

> resources for people who want to fight the IEP, whether that mean

> getting more time, higher frequency, or having the school district pay

> for private therapy with a therapist who can provide therapy that is

> appropriate for apraxia (ask me or the group if you want some links to

> resources).  I can't say for certain how appropriate what the school

> district is providing based on your test scores because I don't know

> much about them, but I can say for certain that group therapy is never

> really recommended for children with apraxia (see article

>

http://www.speechpathology.com/askexpert/display_question.asp?question_id=299).

>  For one, most children are not struggling with the same issues as

> ours and ours will not benefit from the same therapy approach as them.

>  Also in terms of the scoring, do you have previous score to compare

> it to?  I know that with our school district the best way you can

> convince them to provide more is to show a lack of progress, so if

> previous test scores are similar and don't show reasonable growth than

> what they are providing is NOT appropriate.  Same goes for the IEP

> goals, you need to see progress towards those goals.  In my own

> experience though the best way to convince the school therapist to

> provide the type of therapy you know is best for your child is to be

> extra friendly.  Fighting the school doesn't make you or your child

> any friends, and as they say you catch more flies with honey.  Share

> apraxia articles with your therapist in the spirit of kindness.  Give

> it to her saying you were really excited to run across this and was

> curious what her professional opinion was.  It shows you respect her

> training but also gives her the chance to learn something new and

> possibly want to try it out.  Apraxia-kids.org has a lot of good

> articles in their library.  Try and keep in mind that most therapists

> who get in to working with the school district got into it because

> they love kids and wanted to make a difference, they could certainly

> be making alot more working privately.  Also your therapist can be

> your best advocate for making changes to the IEP.

>

>

> Unfortunately it seems like helping our children to achieve the most

> they can is completely up to us parents.  What area are you in?  You

> may want to consider asking for recommendations for other therapists

> in the area if the wait will be long where you guys are currently

> going.  Also in my opinion the sign language is great for our kids,

> helps reduce frustration, and with my daughter the physical aspect of

> it is a miracle worker.  I'm not sure if it's because speaking and

> signing requires her to not focus so much on her mouth that it flows

> out easier or just the physical movement helps to strengthen that

> connection but it helps her speech so much when she uses sign language

> in conjunction.  She said her first sentence using her signs as a

> prompt.  There are lots of great websites for sign language which I'll

> include at the bottom, and we really enjoyed the signing time videos

> (you can rent them from many local libraries or buy them on amazon)

> and the baby babble videos have some signing too.  With my daughter I

> just pick about 5 signs I am going to work on that week and try and

> work them in where ever I can.  I always say the word as I sign it,

> and use my hands to help her form the sign at first because most of us

> know the motor planning is rarely confined to just the mouth.  It's

> best to start with the words that will be most useful (relieve

> frustration) and relevant to the child.  Most start with things like

> more, eat, drink, hungry, tired, etc.  My daughter has been having

> trouble expressing herself emotionally lately and getting overwhelmed

> and expressing it physically (hitting, biting, pushing) instead so

> this week were are working on some feeling signs.  She can't say half

> the stuff she signs, but she always attempts it and that's what

> matters the most to me.  Her speech confidence was so low at first she

> didn't even try to communicate and attempts were few and far between

> but now she tries almost everything and I attribute a lot of that to

> her learning that she could communicate effectively using the signs.

> She's gone from about 5 words, no phrases to about 75-100 words,

> combining in up to a 5 word sentence (same one " I want more xxxx

> please " only while signing) in a bit less than a year.  Her

> articulation isn't perfect but that is still amazing to me seeing how

> far behind she was at 2 1/2.  And to be honest alot of the progress

> I've seen with her is from things I've done not the therapists.

> Taking your child for walks in the park and talking about all the

> amazing things you see, and reading books, and creating meaningful

> memories is a lot more likely to create a desire to communicate and a

> strong lasting impress (read stronger neural connections!).  I

> personally am pursuing a lot more than speech therapy.  I do biomed

> (theres a great apraxia biomed community on ), we are gfcfsf,  We

> work on auditory processing, vision training ,core strength, neuro

> reorganization and developmental movement, oral motor work,

> craniosacral therapy, and integrate a ton of sensory input.   I do

> alot of speech work at home, we work on both receptive and expressive,

> and I always take what the therapist is working on and really drill it

> in at home, trying to find ways to work the sound or pattern the

> therapist is focusing on into anything I can.  Also my daughter is

> hyperlexic so the starfall website has be amazing in helping her.

> When our therapist was working on T/D endings (pot, pet, pea pod, pet,

> bed, etc) I went to the reading section and did the -ot and -et ending

> words and she picked it up so quickly!

>

> Something to keep in mind is that every child is different as is each

> family.  Biomed may not be the route every family wants to pursue, but

> it's done so much for her.  You need to expect to be spending

> countless hours in front of your computer and reading books trying to

> find the combination of approaches that works best for your child.

> Prompt was wonderful for Abbey, however I also know an apraxic child

> who was so sensory defensive that trying prompt just stressed him out

> and his speech actually regressed for awhile.  Join more groups!  Try

> the apraxia-kids.org boards. Read, read, read.  You know your child

> best and will find out what works best for him.  Good luck!

>

> Signing resources:

> http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/concepts.htm

> http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm

> http://www.signingsavvy.com/

> http://www.signwithme.com/

>

> There are plenty more but I really don't use much else.  I only teach

> her ASL signs so I don't do the baby signing books but thats really a

> personal preference.  Most of those sites have videos for each sign so

> you can see it done, which is really helpful.  However the library is

> also a great resource if you feel you'd be able to visualize it well

> enough to do it from text or a picture.  The benefit to that is you

> can have a guide with you even when your not at your computer.

>

> On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 8:56 PM, khaoskat<khaoskat@...> wrote:

>>

>>

>> Hi, I am new to this group and have gone in search of assistance because I

>> am not sure if my child is receiving the services he needs.

>>

>> My DH and I first noticed our second child's speech problems at around 18

>> months. We first asked our Ped about and were told not to worry until he was

>> 2 and could not put 5 two word phrases together. At 2 he couldn't do that

>> (heck he wasn't even really saying mama or dada...he would occasionally get

>> a new word, say it for a day, and we would never hear it again). We got the

>> referral. He was evaluated 6 weeks later by Children's Hospital for both

>> speech and hearing. He passed his hearing just fine, but the lady

>> recommended contacting Early Intervention as he was way behind. About 2

>> months later we got both private speech therapy and Early Intervention

>> started.

>>

>> He was behind enough on his speech that 2 months later when they had an

>> opening in the Toddler preschool group he got accepted into it for 4 half

>> days a week. He was there for 6 months till he aged out of Early

>> Intervention and started services through school. Due to when he

>> transitioned in, he was there maybe 6 weeks (he aged in 2 days before spring

>> break started so didn't start till after spring break). We truly miss his

>> Early Intervention program as they did so much for him - worked on sign

>> language with him and us for basic needs; did a lot of individual work with

>> getting him to talk (1 of 5 kids with 1 teacher and like 2 aides - plus he

>> had speech therapy there as well).

>>

>> I believe his original diagnosis from the formal eval at the Hospital was

>> Speech Apraxia. (I will have to go through and dig out all the forms, but I

>> do remember those terms being in the formal results we received).

>>

>> He has gone through 2 years of one on one private speech therapy one day a

>> week for 30 minutes. He also has a 20-30 minute group therapy session with a

>> school based speech therapist once a week. Per the school therapist he does

>> not always get a session every week, that due to her schedule at the

>> beginning and end of school they often don't work with the kids much those

>> weeks, but make it up during the interim weeks.

>>

>> He just got his annual re-eval from his private speech therapist...and here

>> is what he scored....

>>

>> PLS -4: Receptive at the 98% SC of 130

>> PLS -4: Expressive at 58% SC of 103

>> PLS -4: Total Language at 88% SC of 118

>>

>> GFTA -2 at 4% SC of 67

>>

>> Also, at school they administered the " Get it, Got it, Go " test and he

>> scored like a 33.

>>

>> Right now we are on summer break from school till the end of August. We are

>> loosing his private speech therapist any time now as she is pregnant and

>> then not returning to her employment. We will go back on the waiting list at

>> the place he receives private speech therapy, but due to a shortage of staff

>> they have no clue when we will get re-started...we could get a new therapist

>> next week or next year.

>>

>> My main concerns are if he is receiving enough services in school. He is not

>> receiving any one on one speech at school or work with the teacher, except

>> on some behavior stuff due to his independence from his speech delay. He is

>> 4 years 3 months of age right now. At EI he was being taught some of the

>> basic signs, but they are not doing that at the public school nor are they

>> following through with him using what he knows. A huge part of me wants to

>> work on teaching him the signs so he can communicate more, but I don't know

>> where to even begin with that.

>>

>> He is very bright, but often will not show it. I am not sure if that is

>> because he doesn't have the words to express what he knows or because he is

>> afraid to express it.

>>

>>

>