Re: Apraxia? MALINDA

[Guest guest]

Hi there Malinda-

A good source of info re the Mild vs Moderate vs Severe vs Profound categories

of ANY given speech disorder can be found here:

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

Please also search the Cherab.org site.... you will find so much info there.

Re the above mentioned link..... please keep in mind that this Matrix is

accepted by the ASHA... It's purpose is to identify " how much 1:1 therapy a

given child with a " given degree of a speech delay " should receive in a School

Setting. You could use this info to try to obtain more 1:1 ST in your Son's PK

setting!

I am curious to hear more info from you..... Our boys are close in age..... My

Son will be 4 in March.... he has a confirmed diagnosis of " Moderate

Apraxia " ...... We had in-home EI Services that included ST, OT and PT from when

my son was age 20 months through age 3 years. As our Son approached age 3, we

were given several choices by the " EI people " ...

1. We could enroll him in a Pre-K that had a mix of " Special Needs kids and

" typical kids " .... where he would continue to receive all previous therapies

within a Classroom environment

2. We could decide to not start Pre-K until he turned age 4... and to have

" County based " therapists come to our home to administer therapy for all areas

that my Son qualified for .. (we learned that these Services would be not as

often as those that we received at the EI level).

3. We could enroll our son in a " Typical PK " ... and the county therapists would

come to this School to administer therapy in all areas that he qualified for...

(again... at a lesser degree than with EI).

4. We could enroll our son in a " typical PK " and send him to a " Speech Group "

that would be provided/administered by the County. (our son was too severe for

this option)

We chose option #1... due to the fact that it seemed like our child would

receive more Services this way.

You said that your son is 3.3 (which to me, means that he is no longer

eligible for EI Services). please tell me more about this Pre K.... is it a

" Special Ed PK " .... is it a " Typical kid PK... What entity is paying for the

Speech Therapy at the PK? WHY are they only giving your child 10 minutes per

day of ST during his 3x per week School Days? 10 minutes per day of ST is

NOTHING.... it is not enough!.... at your son's age, it may take close to the 10

minutes to simply get him settled and focused to " work on words " . Does your son

have an IEP at the PK level? There are numerous articles that show that Group

Therapy is NOT effective for Apraxia, unless all kids in the group have the same

problem, or at the same level " speech-wise " .

Your descriptions of your son remind me of mine when they were the same age!

One year ago, my son also replaced syllables with " UH " s... His language was

EXTREMELY limited. At age almost 4, he is now able to produce somewhat clear

3-5 and more word sentences... (with some errors).... but hey.... he is

EXPRESSING his needs! For example.... he will now say " AYE WAH MOE Mo-Mo OWE

ON NAH PEE " (I want more Elmo show on now please). LOL- love how he always

adds the " please " .... he is a great guy with manners... (I wish his older sister

would be as kind and polite at age 6). Another " good one " was the day that he

knocked over one of the Xmas trees in our home...... (My parents bought a new

artificial tree... I took their old one.... and made it " the kid's tree)....

(This kept the kids away from our big one that had all good ornaments on it).

Tyler knocked down the " kid's tree " ... and he was soooo cute in his responses

when I asked him " how that occurred " .... He said " WHEE- DUH " " DEE IH " ... (wind

did it). I asked him how the wind got into the house...... his response was

" RUH- EEE " (right here.. as he pointed to our fireplace). The little bugger

then proceeded to tell me that the " WHEE " (wind) came " Duh-nah " (down) the " FUH-

OO- PAY " (fireplace) and " POO TEE DUH-NA " (pushed tree down). How could I be

mad at him.... it was SOOOO cute!

We have noticed improvements with both Fish Oils and NV. Re Fish oils... we

give him Nordic Naturals Brand.... 2 " Pro EFA " per day and one " Pro EPA " per

day. We also give him 3/4 Scoop of Vanilla NV 2x per day mixed in Pediasure.

We did not have the " quick initial surges " with NV that most did..... but we did

have gains after about 1 month or so on the NV. We started NV one year ago....

(Feb. of 2010). Our son was extremely limited with his speech abilities back

then..... It is amazing to see how far he has come in one year!

Re School and Therapy.....

We have 2 45 minute Sessions of Private ST per week ...... We used to have 3

per week...... (We used to pay our old EI ST $40.00 cash to come to our home to

administer a 45 minute session in our home once per week as well).... She

recently had twins.... and is obviously, " no longer available " ... Our Son

attends Pre K 4 days per week for 2.5 hours each day.. He attends a PreK that

has a mix of " Special needs kids and typical kids " . During his PK school time,

our Son receives two 30 minute 1:1 ST Sessions per week, one 30 minute Group ST

Session per week, one 45 minute OT session per week, and one 45 minute PT

Session per week.

Please understand that when my Son was turning age 3, we were told that " THERE

WAS NO SUCH THING " as 1:1 ST in this Pre K Setting. I was so mad about

that.... and fought it..... We were magically, offered 2 fifteen minute 1:1 ST

sessions per week.... (not enough).... I fought more.... and got two 30 minute

1:1 ST sessions per week. I felt this was STILL not enough... and tried to get

three 30 minute 1:1 ST sessions per week during our last IEP.... they said

NO.... I decided to sign the IEP... only because they DID agree to increase the

OT from every other week to weekly. We are tracking our Son's progress in re to

School based ST and " Private Therapy " ... and may consider requesting another

IEP Meeting if our Son does not make appropriate gains by this June.

If I can help you in any way... please feel free to contact me. I am a " hit and

miss type person " in regard to time spent online.... I had extra time tonite...

and wrote this detailed note.... I am MUCH better with 1:1 personal convo....

Feel free to e-mail me .... @... with your home phone #. I have

an unlimited phone calling plan... and would be glad to call you to speak in

person at a time convenient for you to assist in any way that I can.

Re: [ ] Apraxia?

the iPad has been huge for us too. we are in Texas and my 3 yr old is

in PPCD and both have speech delays.

On 2/20/11, Malinda ph <malinda.joseph@...> wrote:

> Hi Hillary,

>

> He sounds just like my little boy. He is also 3.3 (Nov. 22) He can say

> most sounds in the alphabet and has always been able to do most animal

> sounds, just can't say very many words. (Less than 10) In speech we've

> been breaking the sounds to make words and are starting to try " blending "

> the sounds to make words by giving him cues and prompts for the sounds. I

> wouldn't say all of his sounds in the alphabet are perfectly clear, but he

> recognizes and knows what they are. Overall, he can say most sounds, but

> cannot combine them to make words.

>

> Isn't apraxia and motor planning issue the same thing? I take my son to the

> speech department at a nearby university and was told this past week that

> his " diagnosis " is going to be moderate DAS or childhood apraxia of speech.

> I'm not sure what the " correct " term is. I asked what the difference was

> in mild, moderate and severe, and was told with severe, you can't make a lot

> of the sounds independently and since he can, he is only moderate.

>

> Anyone have further information on what the difference is with mild,

> moderate and severe apraxia?

>

> Are you using any supplements and having success? I notice a big difference

> with the fish oils with his language attempts--not accuracy, just attempts.

> His dry skin has really cleared up to, so I know his body must have some

> deficiency that the oils are helping with. I haven't noticed a big change

> with NV but am continuing. I have used both for about 7 months now.

>

> My son attends the university for 1-1 therapy, 50 minute sessions 2x a week

> and goes to the preschool 3 times a week. He only receives 10 minutes 1-1

> there a day and the rest is group activities. He was just going to the

> preschool and I knew it wasn't enough, so I started taking him to the

> university. That has been a great experience, even though I have to drive

> an hour each way!

>

> I have been told to try to get him to " sing " just making the noise and

> attempts to practice getting enough " breath " out to make words to learn how

> all the systems work together. We have a few songs we repeat many times

> throughout the day, he mostly says " uh-uh-uh " to whatever the tune is.

> E-I-E-I-O is a good one for them to be able to say.

>

> About 8 months ago, my son was hardly making any sounds at all. I started

> teaching signs with the Signing TIme videos about 4 months ago and can't

> believe how he is picking them up. They have really helped to ease his

> frustration. I think the signs are helping as a " cue " to say/learn the

> words. He has an older brother who will be 5 next month who is a great

> talker and a little brother who is 9 months.

>

> I'm curious what you are doing for therapy and what is working? Their

> situations sound quite similar.

>

> All the best,

>

> Malinda

>

> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 7:17 AM, hilsandelias <hilarie@...> wrote:

>

>>

>>

>> Hello again! It's been a while since I posted about my 3.3 year old son

>> and

>> his ongoing and mysterious speech disorder so I thought I'd post an update

>> and see if anyone has similar experiences or if it seems like we are

>> apraxic

>> or something totally different.

>>

>> Elias didn't say a single word until after he turned three, but he has

>> always been a profuse jargon-er. Recently he started to develop an

>> interest

>> in letter sounds and he can say the alphabet phonetically from start to

>> finish, so the sound-making part of his speech is good. Just this week he

>> started saying the names of letters instead of their sounds and singing

>> along to the alphabet song but he stil doesn't say WORDS.

>>

>> He has used the word Turtle and Wolf and makes a few animal sounds but the

>> sound and words would not be understood by anyone but us. The letters and

>> sounds would be understood by anyone, they're perfectly clear.

>>

>> Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does it sound more like Apraxia or a

>> motor planning issue? We do see a wonderful speech therapist, but I always

>> like to check in here and see if anyone can offer any personal experience

>> feedback or ideas.

>>

>> Thanks, everyone!

>> -Hillary

>>

>>

>>

>

>

>