Re: apraxia but PROMPT not working? SUGGESTION

[Guest guest]

I don't know I this would help you but my son had a VERY BAD oral motor

experience with his first therapist. He would cry any time she touched his

mouth. I dreaded any oral motor and knew he needed it. The first time

I took him to Debra Beckman he cried and I thought " Oh no, here we go again. " .

I was amazed by the end of his first session he didn't cry anymore and never

resists now. She uses a 1-2-3 method. She teaches the child that oral

motor is safe by doing a series of things 1,2,3. It's hard to explain in

words but this is how it would go and I'm sure you could apply it to Prompt or

anything else.

Place a child in a place that they can't get out of (like a high chair).

Provide them with a toy that they can do in 3 steps (like a 3 piece pubble, or a

sorting toy with four cups). Then you sit behind the child, the idea will be

to first teach them that everything you are going to be doing can be done to the

count of 3, nothing ever lasts for more than 3 and every bit of " work " /oral

motor is followed by something in 3 that is fun. Before even doing anything

in the mouth the child has to learn that 1-2-3 is safe and you can't let them

get away with not doing their work. You stand behind the child and touch

their hands and guide them in doing the toy. You need to hold their hands

and help them counting as you do each step, 1,2,3. At first the child might

not like it. Kids might not like having their hands held but after just a

short time of being persistent you will see that they get used to it because

they are doing something fun. After our first session Debra had me do this as

my homework all week. It wasn't always in a high chair, just throughout the

day I would stand behind him at a little table or something put his hands in

mine and do an activity counting each step aloud, 1 - 2- 3. You can't allow

the child to pull their hands out of your hands though.

Next when he went to the session he was familiar already with counting 1-2-3 and

that it was safe. She got out a rubbery plastic mouth. She first would

do a toy on the tray, counting 1 -2 - 3. Then she would put her hand on the

mouth and show him what she was going to do to the mouth counting 1-2-3. Then

she would take his hand and have him do it to the mouth counting 1 - 2- 3-.

Then she would let him play with the toy counting 1 - 2- 3. Eventually after

he got used to this idea she'd start with something outside of the mouth just to

get used to him having his face touched (i.e. running finger along outside of

mouth counting 1 - 2- 3). Slowly she worker he way up to the mouth stretches

with fingers in mouth counting each thing in steps of 1 - 2- 3 followed by him

getting to play with his toy 1- 2- 3.

After just a week or two of this he would really just sit and play with the toy

in front of him while she sat behind him doing the exercises with really no need

to count anymore. If he got back to an exercise he didn't seem to like so much

she would go back to the 1 - 2- 3 method and amazingly he'd be fine with it.

I'm sorry that this is hard to explain in words but if you have more questions

feel free to email. It sounds like a silly thing but considering how much my

son absolutely HATED anyone touching his face I was amazed at how quicly he

adapted.

Sue

[ ] apraxia but PROMPT not working?

>>

>> Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010, 11:21 PM

>>

>>

>>

>> Hi everyone,

>>

>> I've been posting a lot on here recently but as a quick recap my

>> daughter just turned 3 and has global delays, dyspraxia, sensory

>> processing issues. Although she has the dyspraxia diagnosis she has

>> no apraxia diagnosis. She has global delays so it may be a

>> cognitive thing, but I also think there is a lot of motor planning

>> issues going on with her. She is very inconsistent, both in her

>> motor and her speech. She may imitate a movement one minute and not

>> be able to the next. She may say one work easily one minute and the

>> other minute can't. She is VERY vocal and can make some very

>> difficult sounds when playing, but it's all gibberish and she can't

>> do it on command.

>>

>> We switched to a PROMPT trained therapist in EI and it didn't go so

>> well. She shut down for the therapist. She now has a PROMPT trained

>> therapist through the school district and they don't even use it on

>> her because again, she shuts down. She does much better in play

>> settings, much more vocal and much more likely to imitate. Once she

>> gets around the PROMPT method it's like she feels pressure, and she

>> gets quiet. She's better when the words and movement just flow

>> naturally. So I am wondering, could this still be apraxia? If a

>> child responds better to play therapy than PROMPT therapy, can it

>> still be apraxia? It seems like PROMPT is the gold standard for

>> apraxia but it does not work at all on my daughter, so I am

>> wondering if that's because apraxia is not what she has? Any

>> thoughts on this?

>>

>> Thanks!

>>

>>