Apraxia has many faces

[Guest guest]

" Does a child with oral apraxia have hyptotonia as well? Or is this

something different again? "

" My question is " Can you have low tone in your mouth and not be

Apraxic? " .

I thought I would leave this to the professionals to answer, and they

still will. But, since there are now 2 questions about this I

thought I would address this in the meantime:

Apraxia and hypotonia are two different things. You can have one

without the other. Hypotonia is low tone, and apraxia is a motor

planning disorder. The one thing they both have in common is that

they are both neurologically based. Yes most children with apraxia

do have other neurological soft signs, but not always.

Our group gets confusing because when different members post, new

members think " oh, so THAT'S apraxia! " but what you read with each

email is just one face. Apraxia has many faces.

There are children with apraxia, like nine and a half year old

from Inside Edition's segment on verbal apraxia and our

nonprofit, and the Talking Page http://www.debtsmart.com/talk who have

verbal apraxia and nothing else. No oral apraxia, no hypotonia, no

sensory integration or motor issues in other parts of the body.

has what some people call " pure " apraxia. is a top

student mainstreamed in a regular school. He excels in sports and is

very popular. If doesn't talk, you would never know there

was anything different about him. only has trouble speaking

clear intelligible sentences-but he's getting better! Children like

could easily pass as any other late talker, except they

don't " outgrow " it, like those with just a simple delay. Children

with apraxia require years of intensive therapy (and EFAs seem to

help shorten that a bit)

There are children with apraxia, like my son, five year old Tanner,

who has oral and verbal apraxia, mild hypotonia and sensory

integration challenges. Tanner " blends " well too with other

children, and has lots of friends. Most people thought Tanner was

just a late talker when he was younger, and think he's " just fine "

now. Tanner passed all his developmental milestones on time or early

except of course for speech.

Even though Tanner has oral apraxia and hypotonia in his face, both

which were severe when he was younger, he never drooled, or had

eating problems. You will read from some members that their children

with apraxia drool or have eating problems. My older son, Dakota,

who had severe trauma at birth with crushed facial nerves etc. was a

late talker as well, and he drooled all the time and had horrible

problems eating or drinking without vomiting often when he was a baby

or young child(he had torn neck muscles as well) but Dakota didn't have apraxia,

and he's fine now. You can also see Tanner or Dakota on Inside

Edition's segment on verbal apraxia and our nonprofit, or hear my

younger son Tanner on the Talking Page http://www.debtsmart.com/talk

There are children with apraxia like (almost fifteen)year old Khalid, who

has global apraxia. He struggled, was teased, and didn't blend as a

child, but he is now excels at sports and academics and is very

popular. Khalid still needs therapy, but he's learned to push

himself through the pain he sometimes feels in his limbs, and

compensate for his challenges-so he's learned to overcome. You can

also see or hear him on Inside Edition's segment on verbal apraxia

and our nonprofit, or the Talking Page http://www.debtsmart.com/talk

Apraxia in itself does not affect intelligence, or receptive ability,

but some children can have apraxia and mental retardation. Children

can also have apraxia and autism, or down syndrome, or a number of

other disorders. This is why our group is so varied. The bottom

line, no matter what the diagnosis, is that we want to help all our

children have a smile and a voice!