Thank you to and group!

[Guest guest]

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone for sharing the

benefit of your experience and research. My son, , was non-

verbal last January (had just turned 2 then) when he started with

speech therapy. The SLP mentioned apraxia after several weeks and I

started my quest for information, which led me to The Late Talker and

The LCP Solution. did some testing at the end of March and

scored in the " severe " category for speech (we are in Canada so may

differ from testing in the States, I don't know). Anyway, with

a " severe " rating he qualified for Provincial funding and is now in a

wonderful preschool. HOWEVER, I started him on fish oils in April

and he started to make many more attempts at speech. It was if he

figured out how to try. By the time he started at his preschool this

September, he was initiating speech and quite a chatterbox, but

fairly unintelligible. (For example, he pronounced his brother

Iain's name Eepeeneen - it's actually correctly pronounced Ian but

spelled the ish way). I could understand him about 50% of the

time but outsiders only about 25%.

Two weeks ago, I upped his dose of Complete Omega 3-6-9 (Nordic

Naturals) to 1/2 tsp, and his length of utterance has increased

substantially and his articulation has improved dramatically. This

is in the last week! Just now, he said to me " Mommy put this guy on

his motorcycle " .

I question whether he actually is apraxic or not with this huge

improvement in only 10 months, but, he certainly fit the description

before we started on the fish oils.

[Guest guest]

thank YOU so much for sharing such a heartwarming update!!!

Your message reminds me of a parent a few years back from Georgia

that called me because her child was diagnosed with apraxia and she

had wanted to start a support group. When I got an email that she

wanted to unsubscribe from the group I emailed her back and asked if

there was a positive reason why. (I know most that post here have

kids that are either newly diagnosed or not doing as well as the

norm...most of the parents of kids doing well don't stick around once

their child is doing well (

The following is the email as to why and it also proves that not all

that surge on fish oils " need " to stay on them forever...but they are

always healthy!:

: Rick Carruthers racmpc@... <racmpc@...>

-owner

Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 10:44 AM

Subject: We're on the other side......

Dear and group,

I contacted you a few months ago and asked to be removed from the

list as I was being buried w/ mail and could not keep up! You asked

if this was a good thing and I responded YES!!!! You suggested I

share my news with the group so that is what I'm doing now..Please

pass this along for me.... .(better late than never right?)

After nearly two years our son is speaking beautifully. Ricky was

diagnosed at 18months. Early yes, but we pushed...Ricky was our

4th..we knew he should have more..we refused to " wait and see " .

He is even starting to recognize and read small words!! We are

amazed and so grateful. He turned 3 at the end of March and that is

when his therapy ended. (this is a child who we were told may never

speak!!). This should bring hope to many parents who are just

starting their journey.

I remember the night after his first evaluation..I got on the net and

found your sight...I stayed up half the night.. reading..crying..

searching for hope!!! Ricky never babbled or cooed..never made any

vowel signs....the only sound he made was MMMMM...MMMMM. (otherwise

he was typically developing..even early..he stood alone at 7

mos...and was walking independently at 9 mos!!!)

He is now 100% intelligible in context (even w/ most strangers)and

probably 75% out of context, which probably is pretty typical of a 3

yr old anyway right? Some have asked hearing him now..don't you

think he was just a late talker? No, we don't...late talkers just

start talking!! Ricky was taught to speak!!! (incidentally he was

fortunate enough to have the most wonderful slp on the planet!!!!)

She not only taught and cared for him but you could tell she actually

fell in love w/ him!!! When he finally " got something " she sometimes

would well up w/ tears!! Other professionals might not think it's

such a good thing to care so much...but it meant the world to us.

To know someone we were counting on cared as much as we did!! What a

gift!!!!

Ok, now to the details I know parents want to know. Ricky was

considered to have pure verbal apraxia w/ no other issues. Of course

this made him more ready and willing to participate in the therapy.

We rarely had days where he didn't want to " work " . He had two

sessions per week at home that lasted about two hours. We continued

at home... Ricky has older siblings...and our house was a 24 hr

speech camp! The fact that we could get right to the speech issue(no

other stuff to work around/ie sensory stuff) certainly was a major

factor in his quick progress.

The other thing we tried like many was the proefa. He immediately

made huge leaps...after a few weeks his slp looked at me and said

WOW..do you think it's the oil? It was hard to tell...was it the

early early intervention, things just starting to come together, the

oil or the combination of all those things together? We didn't know

but our slp was intrigued enough to recommend it to her other

parents. It's been awhile but as I recall she and other parents were

quite surprised and pleased. Not every child had huge leaps in speech

but as I recall all the feedback was positive. One family reported

their child finally slept thru the night for the first time (he was

FOUR YEARS OLD!!!) His parents were thrilled!!! I remember her

talking about another parent who couldn't believe the difference in

her childs behavior and willingness to cooperate more in his

therapy. That would have to lead to better results..wouldn't it? I

don't know much more than that as she of course has

to protect the privacy of the other families... I just don't recall

her sharing any negative stories w/ me.

Okay, now for your BIG question... Is Ricky still on the

oils...No...and he hasn't been for some time. It became so difficult

to get them in him that we stopped probably after about 3 months. We

decided if his progress slowed we would get them in him no matter

what...fortunately..it didn't. Maybe he just needed a boost.!!!! (by

the way ..... I'm still waiting for someone to produce this oil

in

a suppository form..wouldn't that solve all the problems of getting

it into the little ones at least..the older kids can be bribed!!!!)

As a baby Ricky had very dry skin, we noticed after the oils that

his dry skin went away and has never come back despite the fact that

we never re-started the oils. Who knows..maybe he just needed

one good lube job!!!

The other thing we did that I think helped his progress and growth in

general was enroll him in a Montessori pre school program. It was

good for him to be with other children his own age. I'm certainly not

saying he learned to speak by hearing them....we all know better than

that. But it did force him to use the words he had!!! He learned

turn taking, sharing and the rules of the classroom. It amazed me

how they could get 10 under 3 yr olds to sit thru stories and clean

up their own snack and work areas!! The other real positive I found

at the Montessori was the fact that the preschool class

ranged in ages from 18mos to 3 yrs. The point being..Ricky's

speech...or lack of... did not make him stand out!!! There was quite

a range of verbal skills so he blended right in..it was wonderful!!

I feared he would be intimidated and clam up completely in a typical

2/3yr old preschool since that had been our experience w/ him when he

was around other kids his age w/ typical speech. He was young (2

1/2) but starting to realize he was not the same. What a tough thing

to watch!

In the great scheme of things we realize Ricky's obstacles were small

and we are very very fortunate and SO GRATEFUL for his progess. We

are also grateful to this group who gave us so much hope at such a

difficult time.

To all the parents just beginning this journey..keep working, keep

pushing, follow your instincts and never ever give up.....the rewards

are so wonderful and so worth it!!

Sincerly,

Martha Carruthers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to take this moment again to give a huge thanks to all of you

with kids doing well that do stay here to help the newbies! It's

always great to hear updates too!

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