Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 Marie, My daughter was stuck at the vowel stage until age 4 years 9 months. I started her on Pro EFA and now, 6 months later she is talking to strangers in 8 word sentences and they can understand her (50% of the time). My advice is to hang in there and explore the option of Pro EFA if you haven't already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 When my son was reaching 3 and still wasn't using verbal language we were getting a bit worried. Our SLP at the time was outstanding and speaks on apraxia all over Missouri. In other words, she was awesome! At the time I was considering taking my son to mayo clinic to see Edythe Strand, at the advice of our SLP, in case there was something big that we were missing. So my advice is that if you are at the point that you feel there might be more to the puzzle, I would seek an outside expert opinion. Where are you located? If you put your state in the subject line of the post, there might be someone on this list who knows of an expert in your area. Let me know if I can help you with this. Just my two cents¦ Tricia Morin North Carolina <<<Marie wrote: Hi All ; Does anyone have a child with severe apraxia ,Dysarthria who was still not speaking at 4 ? I know it is a slow road but I am getting to the point of thinking even apraxic kids are speaking by now ? It seems like he is just Stuck at the vowel stage, For atleast 9 months now . OUT is ouuu .. And MORE is orrrr(very soft R)... MOM is ooomm ALL DONE is alll ooo. I just can't get any more sounds out of this little guy!!!The tongue and lips don't work together ! Do some kids just get to this stage and that is it ?? Any advice or stories would help , Thanks, Marie Dylan 4yr 2mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 hi Marie, I think your son is verbal. That's talking!!! My son used to say duba for everything, now he says ending of words just like your little guy. I know its hard, we understand our little men but others can't or sometimes I think won't. Once again he is talking, not verbal would be not talking at all. be easy on yourself. chris marie4k Hansen <marie4k@...> wrote: Hi All ; Does anyone have a child with severe apraxia ,Dysarthria who was still not speaking at 4 ? I know it is a slow road but I am getting to the point of thinking even apraxic kids are speaking by now ? It seems like he is just Stuck at the vowel stage, For atleast 9 months now . OUT is ouuu .. And MORE is orrrr(very soft R)... MOM is ooomm ALL DONE is alll ooo. I just can't get any more sounds out of this little guy!!!The tongue and lips don't work together ! Do some kids just get to this stage and that is it ?? Any advice or stories would help , Thanks, Marie Dylan 4yr 2mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 Hi, Marie - Josh is a little over 6 with apraxia and dysarthria. He says the beginning consonants but not the closing ones (so " good dog " comes out " goo dah, " etc.). We made a trip up to Kaufman about a week ago for a diagnosis and hints on what to do and, notwithstanding a horrible experience with an OT there, learned several really good mouth/muscle exercises we are now working on with him. We are using a Nuk brush on the outer lips (eventually to move to the inside of the mouth), a rubber bite toy, a lot of different whistle/flute toys, straws, a kazoo, and we have completely switched from the Playtex spill-proof cup to a regular glass (plastic Blue's Clues). Have you talked to your SLP about adding oral stimulation exercises to your son's regime (or more if he is already doing them)? Our local SLP is working hard with him and we are doing a lot more now than we had been - you can see him trying so hard to get those closing consonants and sounds! We also just started a listening therapy with him with our OT and a second SLP we will be seeing wants to start a new muscle stimulation therapy she just got certified in - provides a stimulus to the throat/mouth/neck muscles to help with dysarthria (was designed really for stroke survivors who suffered dysarthria but works equally as well on kids with dysarthria). It is slooooowwww work but eventually they do get it. At 4, Josh was extremely limited in his vocabulary and we started him on the ProEFA along with all the speech therapies - now we can't keep him quiet! Sherry marie4k Hansen <marie4k@...> wrote: Hi All ; Does anyone have a child with severe apraxia ,Dysarthria who was still not speaking at 4 ? I know it is a slow road but I am getting to the point of thinking even apraxic kids are speaking by now ? It seems like he is just Stuck at the vowel stage, For atleast 9 months now . OUT is ouuu .. And MORE is orrrr(very soft R)... MOM is ooomm ALL DONE is alll ooo. I just can't get any more sounds out of this little guy!!!The tongue and lips don't work together ! Do some kids just get to this stage and that is it ?? Any advice or stories would help , Thanks, Marie Dylan 4yr 2mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 29, 2004 Report Share Posted June 29, 2004 I just thought I'd chime in. was pretty much non-verbal until about 4 1/2. She had a few words that were approximations, but that was about that. At 4 1/2 that she started saying " I want ... " . It wasn't until she was about 5 1/2 that she actually started talking much. She's 7 1/2, and we still have a long way to go, but she has all of her sounds. It's just getting the sounds to sound correctly in connected speech. She does good with 1 syllable words, but loses it on multi-syllable words. What helped her was lots of oral motor therapy from both the speech therapist and an occupational therapist. The ST would wait to work on a sound only after her mouth was strong enough. The ST didn't start " w " words until could round her mouth for the sound. The types of activities that helped were drinking though straws: thin liquids and thick things like milk shakes, pudding, or apple sauce. She also did lots of blowing bubbles, blowing cotton balls across tables with a straw. worked on chewing gum: soft gum first, and then hard gum later on. She did lots of tongue activities like licking peanut butter off of tongue depressors or licking peanut butter off of her lips. We also did fish oil when she was 5 1/2, and that seemed to help also. Good luck! Suzi > Hi All ; > Does anyone have a child with severe apraxia ,Dysarthria who was still not speaking at 4 ? > I know it is a slow road but I am getting to the point of thinking even apraxic kids are speaking by now ? > It seems like he is just Stuck at the vowel stage, For atleast 9 months now . > OUT is ouuu .. And MORE is orrrr(very soft R)... MOM is ooomm > ALL DONE is alll ooo. > I just can't get any more sounds out of this little guy!!!The tongue and lips don't work together ! > Do some kids just get to this stage and that is it ?? > Any advice or stories would help , > Thanks, Marie > Dylan 4yr 2mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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