Questions about NV and therapy

[Guest guest]

Hi! I am new here. My son is 26 months and has been in speech therapy through EI

in Oklahoma for 3 months. He receives 1 hour a week. During that time I had

another baby, and with the holidays, he hasn't had that many sessions. About a

month ago, his speech pathologist shared her concerns that she was leaning more

towards a diagnosis of verbal apraxia. The more my husband and I read about it,

the more we agree. He developed a few words just before he turned 12 months, but

then lost them very quickly and became pretty much nonverbal until recently.

Every once in a while he would randomly say a word or word attempt, and then

never say it again. He would answer questions by saying " uh hunh " or " unh unh. "

When speech therapy started, he began using the word " uh oh " and babbling a bit

more with a few vowel sounds. Every once in a while he would make a " b " or " d "

sound but that was it. He doesn't appear to have any soft signs, although I

realize that those can show up later. He has great motor skills and tests very

high receptively. He also points and grunts to get what he wants. He can drink

from a straw, blow on a horn or blow out candles, rotate his tongue, etc. There

aren't any sensory issues or attention problems that we know of.

I joined this group around the time his S.P. mentioned verbal apraxia, and I

started him on fish oils 3 1/2 weeks ago (2 3/6/9 jrs. at first, and then 3- I

just ordered ProEFA and will move him to 2 of those when I get them). We saw

huge surges right away with the fish oils. He started babbling a lot more, using

consonents and more vowel sounds. Before fish oils, he wouldn't imitate

anything, and now he will imitate all of the vowel sounds and several

consonents. He is also making more word attempts and started using more words

consistently like " dada, " " mama " , " dora " , etc. He can probably produce 15

consonents now, although he doesn't use most of them in words- just babble.

Anyway, we were thrilled.

I was so excited that I ordered NV and started him on it 7 days ago. He gets 1/2

scoop in the morning and 1/2 scoop in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, we

haven't witnessed any surges on NV. I do think I started it too early after the

fish oils to really tell, because he was still surging from the oils. But, in

the last week, we haven't noticed any new consonents, or attempts, or increased

focus, etc. The only thing I have noticed is that he falls asleep much more

quickly at night- he used to lie awake babbling to himself and now he goes right

to sleep. There are a few things that have interfered- a 2 day trip to his

grandparents (they did give him his NV, but I wasn't there to observe), and now

a cold (now he is trying to refuse the NV since he has been sick- he still takes

it but it is work to get him to do so). I think I want to stop using it and

continue with the fish oils, and then restart the NV when we stop seeing surges

with the oils. He has had a lot of changes in his life in the last few weeks- he

started daycare a few weeks ago, he has a 9 week old baby brother, etc. Things

are kind of crazy around our house right now and it is hard to pay attention and

keep track of any possible surges. I am keeping a log, but it is still hard. I

am thrilled with all of the success that others have had with NV, and I'm not

giving up hope. But I think I need to stop and start again later when he is

completely used to the oils and things have mellowed out a bit.

I do want to get some blood work done, and I am trying to find an experienced

S.P. in Tulsa who can work with us. I am fighting the insurance on both. My

pediatrician is great- he didn't know anything about apraxia, but he is trying

to learn and will support anything we want to do. He wrote a prescription for

speech therapy (non-developmental), so we are hoping insurance will accept it.

Anyway, I guess I have 2 questions. Do you think it is a good idea to stop the

NV and restart it at a later point? I know it has only been a week but everyone

says we should see surges by now.

Also, we are trying to find a S.P. who has experience with childhood apraxia and

is trained in one of the methods used with apraxic kids. Until then, though,

does anyone have any suggestions on some things we can do at home? We model

words constently, try to encourage him to babble as much as possible, try to get

him to imitate us in the mirror, etc. He watches the Baby Babble video and likes

it. We are trying to make him as comfortable as possible making noise of any

kind and trying word attempts. But I would love some specific suggestions if

anyone has any. This is all so overwhelming, and terrifying, for the most part.

Thanks so much! I love this group!

Casey