Re: Best therapy and best homework

[Guest guest]

Has he received any oral motor therapy (these are streches and massages done by

a trained SLP with their hands in his mouth). Does your son have low muscle

tone of the face / dysarthia? One method of oral motor techniques is the

Beckman method but there are other methods as well. I can write more but if

you don't need this info I will wait to hear from you.

Sue

[ ] Best therapy and best homework

My son is 5.5 yrs with apraxia. His sentence length is probably about average

for his age, but he is only 5% intelligible. He just learned to smile and

pucker (sort of) but tongue and mouth movements are difficult for him. Would

PROMPT be a good method for him. I read a lot about kids learning to talk using

PROMPT...my son uses sentences (pretty well) but only I can understand him. He

also uses a high pitched voice. Also, I would like to have carry over at

home...any suggestions for helping him articulate better at home. He is in

speech at school, using Kaufman cards, but we are not seeing any improvement. I

would appreciate any suggestions towards better articulation.

Thanks in advance :-)

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Hi Sharon

I am PROMPT Certified and think it is worth seeking a promot eval. Lori

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

[ ] Best therapy and best homework

My son is 5.5 yrs with apraxia.  His sentence length is probably about average

for his age, but he is only 5% intelligible.  He just learned to smile and

pucker (sort of) but tongue and mouth movements are difficult for him.  Would

PROMPT be a good method for him.  I read a lot about kids learning to talk using

PROMPT...my son uses sentences (pretty well) but only I can understand him.  He

also uses a high pitched voice.  Also, I would like to have carry over at

home...any suggestions for helping him articulate better at home.  He is in

speech at school, using Kaufman cards, but we are not seeing any improvement.  I

would appreciate any suggestions towards better articulation.

 

Thanks in advance :-)

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon I don't know where to start...if he only just learned to smile and pucker

" sort of " that sounds like he's clearly been dealing with oral apraxia which

could have been picked up 4 years ago. My first suggestion is RUN to find a

PROMPT therapist -from what you said it appears you need to ASAP get your son

to a therapist that knows how to work with apraxia and is knowledgeable about

various methods -including some sort of touch cue -PROMPT....probably just about

any therapist other than the one your son has. In addition to PROMPT it sounds

like he probably would benefit from oral motor therapy as well.

If only 5 percent of what he says is intelligible -that would mean he's

essentially nonverbal. What is his current placement?

Below is a huge amount of archives -but just wanted to say I have nothing in

them about the nutriiveda which I just discovered to help my own son a few

months ago -I want to take the time to point this out because my son too has

oral apraxia and at 13 years old for the first time in his life since being on

this whenever I look at him, or take photos of him with or without him knowing

(!) he has facial expressions...no more " blank " look -YAY!!!

http://pursuitofresearch.hmgsuccess.com/?p=510 I highly recommend looking into

that as well as the following. Just also wanted to add that it's never too late

to get him caught up- so good thing you found us! PS -below are also some

archives from original messages I sent to a grouplist about my son Tanner when

he was around 3. (he's now 13 and almost 5 foot 10 inches, mainstreamed in

school -always been a good student -more recently a great student -lots of As,

very social and verbal!!!!!)

Re: Worried about my 4 year old boy..lots of questions to ask you all

you clearly need to seek a diagnosis for your son outside

of the school as he is already 4 years old. You need to know if the

signs of sensory issues are sensory integration dysfunction and if the

sign of motor planning issues, sensory and late talking are dyspraxia/

apraxia. It's great that he's going to see a neuro in 2 months. But

what about an outside the school SLP too? Perhaps an evaluation with

an outside the school OT as well to check out the signs of sensory

issues? Now is the best time to secure the appropriate diagnosis

to secure appropriate therapies in the IEP and private.

For example does your child right now have 1/1 therapy in his IEP and

if so how often? Here's a severity intervention matrix to help as

well as some reasons for 1/1 therapy

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

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

Don't let them say there is a language delay until you have an

appropriate diagnosis since all may be due to his impairment in

speech and motor skills together with whatever other issues he has co

existing such as sensory.

Below are a number of clips from archives that may help. Please look

through them and answer the questions in the following as all of us

here can together help you to help your child.

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

What state are you in? Perhaps I or others can help you find a

competent neuromedical doctor. At this point it's not just the SLP

or OT who will be able to help you secure the appropriate therapies

if it is apraxia. It does not matter if nobody in the history of

your town ever received one on one -that just tells me that you don't

have advocates in your town. If your town's school is in the US than

it receives Federal monies and has to by law follow the Federal

(not just State or City) laws. The Federal Law is FAPE in the LRE or

your child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education in

the least restrictive environment and you'd be shocked how much is

offered once you learn how to advocate. Rule one never say " best "

say " appropriate " whenever you want to say best. Or " inappropriate "

because the school is not obligated by law to offer your child the

best therapy and placement -only what is appropriate. If they can

not provide appropriate placement and therapy in district than you

can seek " out of district placement " or to have an " expert " come in

to train the current staff and work with your son or to keep your

child in district for certain services and to pay for private therapy

at home a few days a week. If you don't ask you won't get any of

that for your child as I've never known for schools to just offer any

of the above without advocacy.

Tammy you need a diagnosis!!!

Hi Tammy!

I'm a bit concerned that your child is going to be 5 years old in

another 6 months and the only diagnosis you have is " severe

expressive speech disorder " which BTW your neighbor could have told

you probably a year ago. You really want to know the reason for your

child's delay in speech as there are quite a list of reasons. Who

evaluated your child thus far?

Have you read The Late Talker book? It's a good starting point

book. Also is your child in the early intervention program through

the school right now and if so how much speech and occupational

therapy is she receiving? To make sure it's appropriate speech and

occupational therapy again you need to have that appropriate

diagnosis.

As far as vitamins and supplements they can help accelerate progress

together with appropriate speech and occupational therapies. There

are also many other alternative therapies to explore. I would keep

it simple to start. That's what we've done here for years with great

success.

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

or

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

My parent guide still works (for free)

http://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contpeds/data/articlestandard/contpeds/492\

\

004/136315/article.pdf

I would also have at least one private " out of pocket " (if possible)

exam with a knowledgeable speech pathologist as well. This SLP can

coordinate with your child's MD, and school therapist and other

professionals, and again be there to assist in a therapeutic plan,

help set goals and oversee your child's development over the years

if needed.

Networking with parents of other speech-impaired children is also

possibly one of the best moves you could make in your child's

recovery. Others will steer you to the " right " professionals and

programs in your area -and you won't feel so alone. I would HIGHLY

recommend joining a whose goal is to unite parents and

professionals. This group

/ is through CHERAB

http://www.cherab.org

The speechville website also has message boards so that you can talk

to other parents on particular topics.

http://www.speech-express.com/boards/

Check your state resources at Speechville to find local support

groups and resources.

http://www.speech-express.com/regional-resources.html

http://www.speech-express.com/communication-station/regional-support-groups.html

(BTW -for anyone who is either running or starting a support group -

due to The Late Talker book and the many who will see your group,

please make sure your info is up at this website and accurate)

For all your other questions including what type of testing -just

read " The Late Talker " . (Nike said 'Just Do It!' -I say 'Just Read

It!') At Amazon.com you can even start today and read sample pages

of the book online!

" The first book to show parents how to tell whether a child has a

speech delay -or a more serious speech disorder

Every parent eagerly awaits the day his or her child will speak for

the fist time. For millions of mothers and fathers, however,

anticipation

turns to anxiety when those initial, all-important words are a long

time

coming. Many worried parents are reassured that their child is " just

a late

talker, " but unfortunately, that is not always the case. Co-author