Apraxia vs. Phonological Disorder

[Guest guest]

My son Isaac, 2.5, has received a diagnosis of apraxia from his SLP (but not

from the neuro. ped. who thinks he is a " late talker " ). In the last 5 months of

early intervention speech therapy (once a week, one hour), he has made 8 months

progress in 5 months time. He went from saying four words to speaking

" functionally " - simples sentences like " I miss grandma " or " I want stickers " .

He is still not extremely " talkative " , but he has a big vocabulary and except

for some articulation issues, he is fairly understandable except when stringing

together sentences like most apraxic kids. My question is based on a recent

workshop we attended at SLU, given by Hoffman. She said apraxic kids

usually have very slow progress, but that kids with a phonological disorder

usually made rapid progress (more like Isaac). What is the difference between

the two? She didn't talk about the phonological disorder as much because most

parents in the room had apraxic/autistic children. We are just wondering if

that would be any different, although she did say that treating him like an

apraxic would do more good than harm, in the long run. Of course, we're not

ruling out apraxia because of other idiosyncrasies (i.e., he still can't jump

with two feet off the ground or stick his tongue out). I feel like he is making

good progress, but what is our next step? Thanks in advance.