An article about Jeanne Buesser's new book 'He Talks Funny'

[Guest guest]

Yay Jeanne- more awareness! Congratulations and for those that don't know you

can buy Jeanne's book on Amazon.

Speaking loudly on talking ‘funny’

Thursday, March 24, 2011

BY BRYAN WASSEL

Town News

STAFF WRITER

With much of the media's time devoted to covering " hot topic " medical news, some

lesser-known disorders may not receive the coverage they deserve, leaving

parents without the knowledge they need to help their children with special

needs.

Paramus resident Jeanne Buesser, author of the book " He Talks Funny, " has

devoted her time to spreading the word about apraxia after one of her sons was

diagnosed the little-known neurological disorder.

Apraxia prevents a person from making the correct sounds, in turn making it

difficult for them to articulate their speech. Buesser described it as " like

having a loose wire or connection in the brain, " as affected people possess the

correct structures in and around their mouth that produce speech, but faulty

connections to the brain prevent their words from coming out clearly.

" He Talks Funny " is part of Buesser's most recent efforts to inform the public

about apraxia, and tells the story of a child with the disorder and how he and

his mother teach his day camp about the issue, helping them accept him. The book

also contains a list of early warning signs that a child may have the

communication disorder, as well as additional resources parents can access

online.

When her second son, Adam, was diagnosed with apraxia more than a decade ago,

Buesser soon discovered that there was little information about or help for the

disorder available to the public.

" I didn't know what it was until he was diagnosed from early intervention, "

Buesser said. " Once he was diagnosed, I realized there was no support. "

She soon discovered the Cherab Foundation, a support organization founded by her

friend in Union County, and began attending support meetings. However, she

remained concerned about the lack of such an organization to inform and aid

parents of children with apraxia in northern New Jersey.

Using her own money and the assistance of a helpful IRS employee, Buesser

researched creating her own non-profit organization and formed the Apraxia

Network of Bergen County, a grassroots organization that offers help to parents

of children with this disorder both locally and across the country.

" If you don't necessarily know about apraxia, and you don't know where to go or

get help it's very frustrating, because the parents themselves feel isolated, "

Buesser said. " They have no support; they don't know where to go. "

One of the challenges Buesser has dealt with is making sure apraxia and its own

differing levels of severity are diagnosed separately. After being invited to a

Social Security Administration meeting several years ago, she found that

professionals wanted to add apraxia to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) under the autism label.

" You can't do that, " Buesser said. " You have children with different diagnoses,

different behaviors or symptoms. Some have more behaviors than others. Some do

not have any behaviors, so you can't put them all into the same melting pot. "

Treating a child with apraxia the same way as one would treat a child with

autism will just lead to frustration, according to Buesser. As a completely

different disorder it requires different therapy, and putting it under the

autism blanket could impair parents who don't understand the speech disorder and

can inadvertently lead to false conclusions.

" One of the interesting things I've found over the years is that if people don't

understand something but they see it, [they think] that it must be right, "

Buesser said. " But it's not. "

Diagnosis and therapy needs to start early, between birth and 5 years old,

according to Buesser.

" One of the basic problems that I've found, about that outreach, is a lot of

people don't know about apraxia, they may have never heard about it, " she said.

" They don't know where to go for evaluations, if there's a problem where to go

for help, because a lot of people don't always know about it. "

The potential signs of apraxia include if a baby doesn't babble or enjoy

imitating sounds, and seems to be on the late side of speech development,

according to Buesser. Speech is often neglected during routine checkups, so it

is important for parents to keep an eye out for any warning signs stemming from

an unusually quiet child, she said.

The Apraxia Network of Bergen County meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at

Temple Sholom, 385 Howland Ave. in River Edge. Contact Buesser at

jbmistletoe@... for more information about the network, or

jbmistletoe@... for more information about " He Talks Funny. "

http://www.northjersey.com/news/118556039_Speaking_loudly_on_talking__funny__.ht\

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[Guest guest]

thanks for posting the link to it. I didn't know it had come out.

>

> Yay Jeanne- more awareness! Congratulations and for those that don't know you

can buy Jeanne's book on Amazon.

>

> Speaking loudly on talking ‘funny’

> Thursday, March 24, 2011

> BY BRYAN WASSEL

> Town News

> STAFF WRITER

>

> With much of the media's time devoted to covering " hot topic " medical news,

some lesser-known disorders may not receive the coverage they deserve, leaving

parents without the knowledge they need to help their children with special

needs.

>

> Paramus resident Jeanne Buesser, author of the book " He Talks Funny, " has

devoted her time to spreading the word about apraxia after one of her sons was

diagnosed the little-known neurological disorder.

>

> Apraxia prevents a person from making the correct sounds, in turn making it

difficult for them to articulate their speech. Buesser described it as " like

having a loose wire or connection in the brain, " as affected people possess the

correct structures in and around their mouth that produce speech, but faulty

connections to the brain prevent their words from coming out clearly.

>

> " He Talks Funny " is part of Buesser's most recent efforts to inform the public

about apraxia, and tells the story of a child with the disorder and how he and

his mother teach his day camp about the issue, helping them accept him. The book

also contains a list of early warning signs that a child may have the

communication disorder, as well as additional resources parents can access

online.

>

> When her second son, Adam, was diagnosed with apraxia more than a decade ago,

Buesser soon discovered that there was little information about or help for the

disorder available to the public.

>

> " I didn't know what it was until he was diagnosed from early intervention, "

Buesser said. " Once he was diagnosed, I realized there was no support. "

>

> She soon discovered the Cherab Foundation, a support organization founded by

her friend in Union County, and began attending support meetings. However, she

remained concerned about the lack of such an organization to inform and aid

parents of children with apraxia in northern New Jersey.

>

> Using her own money and the assistance of a helpful IRS employee, Buesser

researched creating her own non-profit organization and formed the Apraxia

Network of Bergen County, a grassroots organization that offers help to parents

of children with this disorder both locally and across the country.

>

> " If you don't necessarily know about apraxia, and you don't know where to go

or get help it's very frustrating, because the parents themselves feel

isolated, " Buesser said. " They have no support; they don't know where to go. "

>

> One of the challenges Buesser has dealt with is making sure apraxia and its

own differing levels of severity are diagnosed separately. After being invited

to a Social Security Administration meeting several years ago, she found that

professionals wanted to add apraxia to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) under the autism label.

>

> " You can't do that, " Buesser said. " You have children with different

diagnoses, different behaviors or symptoms. Some have more behaviors than

others. Some do not have any behaviors, so you can't put them all into the same

melting pot. "

>

> Treating a child with apraxia the same way as one would treat a child with

autism will just lead to frustration, according to Buesser. As a completely

different disorder it requires different therapy, and putting it under the

autism blanket could impair parents who don't understand the speech disorder and

can inadvertently lead to false conclusions.

>

> " One of the interesting things I've found over the years is that if people

don't understand something but they see it, [they think] that it must be right, "

Buesser said. " But it's not. "

>

> Diagnosis and therapy needs to start early, between birth and 5 years old,

according to Buesser.

>

> " One of the basic problems that I've found, about that outreach, is a lot of

people don't know about apraxia, they may have never heard about it, " she said.

" They don't know where to go for evaluations, if there's a problem where to go

for help, because a lot of people don't always know about it. "

>

> The potential signs of apraxia include if a baby doesn't babble or enjoy

imitating sounds, and seems to be on the late side of speech development,

according to Buesser. Speech is often neglected during routine checkups, so it

is important for parents to keep an eye out for any warning signs stemming from

an unusually quiet child, she said.

>

> The Apraxia Network of Bergen County meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays

at Temple Sholom, 385 Howland Ave. in River Edge. Contact Buesser at

jbmistletoe@... for more information about the network, or jbmistletoe@... for

more information about " He Talks Funny. "

>

http://www.northjersey.com/news/118556039_Speaking_loudly_on_talking__funny__.ht\

ml

>

>

> =====

>