PURE APRAXIA

[Guest guest]

I have a son who is now six and his soeech therapist now and his old

speech therapist said he was " Purely Appraxic " . His first SLP worked

with him from the age of 2 until he was 3 & 1/2 but continued to

observe him after that because she was then seeing my younger son.

She said everytime she was reading up on appraxia she thought of my

son. To her he was a textbook case. Excepr for some minor fine motor

skill problems he showed no other symptons. He is in a regular

Kindergarten class now and soes wonderfully. He has never had any

problems with receptive language at all. They just did his three year

testing and his verbal IQ was 134. So yes I do think there is such a

thing as " pure verbal apraxia " .

> I just got back from taking my daughter to the Dev Ped and he said

> that he does NOT think she has Apraxia because she shows NO other

> sypmtoms other than extreme speech delay. He does not belive that

you

> can have PURE Verbal Apraxia (in his experience).

>

> I'm not sure that I am convinced of this and am scared that other

> sympotms might show up as she gets older (she is only 3).

[Guest guest]

Hi AC,

Pure apraxia is possible but rare.

More common would be misdiagnosis of apraxia (the child

really is/was " just " a late talker with a simple delay in speech)

Below is an archive on this subject -and yes it's always been a

popular topic and one with many opinions, even from the experts.

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Mon Jan 26, 2004 2:21 pm

Subject: Re: any pure apraxia children?

In response to some of the many posts on this -this group is a

mixture of all types of late talkers ranging from mild " just " late

talkers with simple delays in speech, to those with more complex and

severe impairments that overlap with other conditions. The majority

here do not post and lurk instead, and this includes the majority of

those with " just " late talkers. Some have told me they don't want

to post because they don't believe their child's problems will be

taken seriously in comparison to what others are going through. I

just want to once again say -all are welcome here and all is taken

seriously.

Out of the few that do post, there are a handful that post to reach

out to help others (thank you for all that do this!) and share

updates and we get to know them. Most post when they have a

question or when they are upset about something, but a few come here

to share joys that only we can understand (like being excited about

a 4 year old that says " hi " for the first time)

Pure apraxia is a question that comes up often, and as long ago as

when Tanner was first diagnosed. In fact below are two of my first

ever messages on this where first I question what " pure apraxia " is

a day or so after Tanner was diagnosed -and then another where I

sign next to Tanner's name " pure apraxia " (and yes -I too was wrong)

Interestingly enough in my first messages I describe Tanner's signs

of oral apraxia and sensory problems and hypotonia which -but since

nobody including Tanner's pediatrician knew they were warning signs -

none were addressed until after these " soft signs " were diagnosed by

the neurodevelopmental MDs.

I'll put my post below, here is just one of the more recent archives

and then some other comments below that on your direct question:

" From what I've seen personally and in this group, apraxia, like

autism, is multifaceted in most cases...meaning it's not " just " an

impairment of speech. Bilker is one of the only children I

know who has " pure " apraxia of speech and nothing else.

http://www.debtsmart.com/talk/brandon.html

(even though most of us in the early stages also believe it's " only "

a speech delay as you will even read in my first posts 4 years ago.) "

Most children with apraxia do not have PDD, however it's not

uncommon for children with PDD to have apraxia. Most children with

apraxia do have mild low tone (weakness) and/or mild motor planning

problems in other areas of the body. It's also not uncommon for

a 'typical' apraxic child to have sensory integration dysfunction,

even if it's mild. Through anecdotal reports apraxic children are

also late to potty train and may be prone to constipation. (and if

asked to blow their nose into a tissue they will breath in instead

of blow out!)

Children with apraxia or any communication disorder are known

through studies to be at risk for learning disabilities. the issue

of

using verbal based cognitive or receptive testing on verbal disabled

children?

http://www.cherab.org/news/verbaldisabledtest.html Just like in

the story behind the movie " Stand and Deliver " -I love the

quote " students will rise to the level of expectations "

http://www.kcbx.net/~jbunin/files/reviews/teachers.html which is

most likely based in proof by the research of Dr. Rosenthal.

http://www.pineforge.com/newman4study/resources/rosenthal1.htm I've

spoken to Dr. Rosenthal about the current testing problem our

society and school systems are placing on verbal disabled children,

how this is discriminatory - and the damaging impact of using this

type of testing based on what his research proves. Dr. Rosenthal is

shocked to say the least -and agrees with my views on this -he

believes this should be studied as well. Please contact me if you

are interested in learning more about this too.

We as the ones that care for these children have to believe that

this is not necessarily true -my son Tanner is just one example of a

child that could have still been in a special needs class and viewed

as low average abilities due to verbal based testing -but instead is

a straight A student in all subjects in an accelerated academics

first grade class. Many if not all of our children benefit from

multisensory therapy as well as multisensory education. For example

when Tanner's school taught the children about the circulatory

system -each child had a chance to " be " a white blood cell or red

blood cell or platelet while walking through the halls of the

school. Tanner came home and explained the circulatory system to us

and it was amazing. I am also a strong believer that as a group in

general most of the children with multifaceted communication

impairments (those who don't just have verbal apraxia) will benefit

from starting kindergarten at six vs. at five so that they have that

extra year to work on the intensive therapy, and give that extra

year for development. I don't know anyone that regretted " holding

back " their child for a year -but I personally know quite a few that

regret starting their child at five, especially if the child is a

young five.

Here is an archive on how our children, and adults like them that

are verbal disabled, have been viewed by the majority:

" Now if you want to know the negative view our children will face if

we don't change it as a group-then read this link (

http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/gleaner_news/article/0,1626,ECP_4476_2470843,00.\

\html ) for the good and the bad:

" These children are going to plateau at a certain level -- that is

the nature of a disability, " said Harper, who teaches students with

autism, learning disabilities, mental retardation, Tourette's

syndrome, vision and hearing deficiencies and brain injuries. " These

kids are not going to grow out of it, not going to grow up and be

OK. It's sad, but that is the way it is. "

" In Nashville, Tenn., schools director Pedro called

it " ludicrous, to give a (special ed) student a test that they

cannot read or understand, much less know the answer. "

And this quote opens a can of worms to me:

" There is no way some of these kids can meet the testing standards, "

she said. " If they could, they wouldn't be with us in the first

place. "

I'd love to ask this person " And if they were not with you in the

first place...could they instead be a straight A student in the

mainstream? " and then tell her about my son Tanner who is one of

many who would be in these classes due to verbal based IQ and

receptive ability tests...but instead is a straight A student in all

subjects in the mainstream

http://www.cherab.org/news/verbaldisabledtest.html

But just like I like to leave out the bad parts most of the time and

focus on the good (like saying that even though most children

diagnosed with leukemia will be cured...I don't like to talk about

what happens to almost all of those few that are not cured. Because

there is always hope -and you don't want to ever give that up.)

Here is someone to cheer from the same article!

" There have been low expectations for some of these children all

along, " he said. " And that's not because of mental abilities, but

because of poor instruction received in the early grades. We need to

challenge schools that these children can achieve. Sure, they will

need an intensive program, but they can be brought up to grade

level. "

~ Tomalis, acting assistant secretary for elementary and

secondary education

Hurray for ' Tomalis!! "

Subject:

Thanks for the talking kids page!

Date:

Wed, 10 Mar 1999 11:03:00 -0500

From:

& Glenn <shop-in-service@...>

To:

pressone@...

Hi ,

Our 2 3/4 year old son Tanner was diagnosed yesterday with apraxia.

However, as I'm sure you are well aware, we have been dealing with

his

non speech for much longer. (You may have read my e-mail about

Tanner.) Tanner looks like a cherub-strangers say that all the

time.

So we call him " the cherub boy " .

It was wonderful to hear your adorable sons, and the other children

speak. It really does help. At this point our son sounds the most

like

when the father says " 1, 2, 3, a, b, c, " . Without much

prompting

he is non verbal. Also, most of the time, when my husband and I

try

to ask Tanner questions where he would have to try to answer, my

older

son, who is four, talks for him. Like your son, Tanner looks and

acts

normal. Actually outside of expressive speech, Tanner tests on every

other area above average. This was unfortunately the reason our

pediatrician was never concerned. We had to push to get his hearing

and

speech evaluation.

If you could tell us some background on your son it would be

appreciated. When did he first get diagnosed? How many days of

therapy

a week does he receive? When did you see the greatest improvement?

Like Tanner, was there a time he didn't really talk? What is " pure

apraxia " ? Even though he is a perfect weight now, I have been

concerned with the way he sometimes shoves large amounts of food in

his

mouth. Is apraxia a rare condition? I've spent the morning trying

to

find a local support group where I could receive the answers to some

of

these questions. Even Tanner's speech therapist said there is not

much

known about it because it is pretty rare. I did find a world wide

support group for apraxia in Greenbay Wisconsin called MUMS with 20

to

40 members.

Well again, thanks for putting the talking kids page together. Let

me

know what you need, and my husband and I can send you a tape and

picture

of Tanner.

Best,

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone

I'm new to this list. My son, now 9 1/2, was informally diagnosed with

Apraxia at 2 1/2.

He had trouble acquired the letter sounds and also had low oral motor tone.

However, once he started speech therapy, he caught on to the letter sounds

fairly quickly, but expressive language is still problem at 9 1/2. At 4-5 he

only spoke in phrases. Sentences still didn't come in until around 6. Once his

speech came in, we moved on to auditory processing and expressive language

disorder.

He has never been given any formal diagnosis label. I have a folder 1 inch

thick of speech evaluation, audiologist testing, and neuropsy evaluation, and

educational testing. Every evaluation he's had showed some kind of weakness, but

nothing that was extreme (maybe because of so much therapy). We've seen an

audiologist who said that decoding was a primary problem but there were some

other weaknesses such as memory, speech in noise. However, testing scores were

not low enough to absolutely say APD. This is the problem I have with all the

testing.

What I see as his major difficulties now is his inability to express himself

completely. If he tries to explain something, many times he give up as it's

too difficult. He has word finding problems, and sometimes sentence snytax and

grammer problems. He has a problem understanding people when they talk fast

and/or are too wordly. He has trouble grasping the meaning of words for

context. He is also extremely literal and has a difficult time with inferences

and

critical thinking. He has problems with sequencing and organization of

information. Math word problems especially affected (however, he's very good

with

computation.)

What is pure Apraxia? Is it the difficult of acquiring letter sounds and

speech only?. Or does it have further implications for understanding speech.

Though I believe my son does have some auditory processing problems, I

beginning to believe that his problem is more language based.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Sandy

[Guest guest]

My understanding of pure apraxia that only the speech is affected.

However it appears that children with apraxia can also have other

disorders including APD, sensory intgration, fine motor, reading

issues, etc..

I think the language processing is related to APD but I can be wrong.

Also, you mentioned he is very literal which I have heard is

symtomatic of Semantic Pragmatic Disorder.

For more info:

http://www.speech-express.com/diagnosis-destinations/semantic-

pragmatic-language-disorder/semantic-pragmatic-language-disorder.html

denise

Mom to 5.10 with so far verbal apraxia, hypotonia and maybe

some language processing issues.

>> What is pure Apraxia? Is it the difficult of acquiring letter

sounds and

> speech only?. Or does it have further implications for

understanding speech.

> Though I believe my son does have some auditory processing

problems, I

> beginning to believe that his problem is more language based.

>

> Does anyone else have this problem?

>

> Sandy

>

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>

>

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