29 Month Old w/ Speech Issues...

[Guest guest]

I have an almost 2 1/2 year boy (). At his 2 year well-baby

check up his pediatrician referred us to a birth to three program due

to him only having approx. 5 words. We've been doing speech therapy

(group - 4 hours per week) and OT (2 hours per month) since March.

had tubes done at 10 months of age and his speech delay was

attributed to the ear infections/fluid problems prior to that. So

after 5 months of speech therapy, I've seen little improvement. He

maybe has 10 words and the only vowel sound he says is " ah " so he

sounds like he has a southern drawl (hi = hah, by-by = bah bah). His

speech therapist says that that's the only vowel sound he has due to

the fact that he doesn't have to move his lips to say it.

I just happened to stumble onto this website/chat group a couple of

days ago and was quite intrigued by what I was reading. Nobody has

ever diagnosed him with anything other than " speech delay " but

does many of the things that are mentioned in your website. At the

time of our evaluation (he was 25 months old), his cognitive ability

was at 26 months and his speech was at a 13 month old level. Jake is

very bright but most of the time he does not attempt to communicate

with us verbally -he points and grunts to get what he wants. His ST

has taught him some basic signs (eat, drink, more, help) and he uses

that now most of the time. The few words he does say he will use

(milk, no) at appropriate times. He has some SI issues (doesn't like

fingerpaints, shaving cream, play dough). He stuffs way too much

food in his mouth and I frequently find pieces of the previous meal 2

or 3 hours after we finish eating. His ST attributes this to having

poor muscle tone in the muscles of his cheeks and tongue - she says

the food gets over there and then he doesn't have the muscle control

to get it out. He also does the toe walking occassionally that some

were posting about in the past couple days.

So, I guess my main question is - what should I do at this point?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks -

Jill Sweeney

[Guest guest]

Dear Jill,Welcome to the group.I would have Jake seen by a pediatric

neurologist ASAP.You will probably have to wait to get in but I would make an

appoinment.They will do all kinds of tests to determine what the problem is

which there is.I would also try and find a ST that knows something about

apraxia or some other disorders or at least get a second apinion.My saying is

that if they are as good as they claim to be getting a second opinion

shouldn't bother them.tgood luck and let us know the outcome. Gretchen mother

of 6 with apraxia

[Guest guest]

Thanks for writing back and thanks for the suggestions...

Just last week Jake's ST gave us one of the brushes you are referring to and

we are using that to stimulate his mouth muscles and get him to move his

tongue around.

He had tubes done when he was 10 months and continue to follow with his ENT

for his ear issues. Working with the ENT and his audiologist, they have

done several hearing tests and feel his hearing is normal.

Jake has therapy tomorrow and I plan on asking his ST about the apraxia and

see what she thinks. I enjoy the website and find it educational reading

about others going through similar things (speech delays, quirky habits,

etc...). I will continue to " hang around " and see what I can learn!

Thanks again-

Jill

> Hi Jill,

> I'm glad you came across the apraxia site and decided to write to the

> group. Welcome and thanks so much for writing to us.

> Sometimes we read something and it hits us as the answer to our

prayers.

> That is how I felt when I first read about apraxia here.

> This is a good group and you can get a lot of good advice from Moms

>ho are going through the same thing as you.