Re: Apraxia vs Dyspraxia

[Guest guest]

Hi Louise and welcome again!

Don't be confused, I think I can explain. The confusion stems from

the definition of adult 'a'praxia vs. 'dys' praxia. In reality our

children are mainly dyspraxic and not apraxic -but communication

impairments don't deal in reality yet or the world would be aware

that most late talkers are not learning disabled and/or autistic.

The medical community is just starting to get involved in

communication impairments outside of hearing, and outside of

autism. Up till now your child will be diagnosed or not with a

variety of speech and language impairments which may or may not be

accurate or appropriate. PDD NOS/history of apraxia most likely if you live in

California, Speech Language Impaired if you see a PhD studying SLI,

more times apraxia than dyspraxia if you live in New Jersey, (they

are used interchangeably however) and dyspraxia if you like in the UK.

or...

http://www.cherab.org/information/adhd-speech.html

It's best to go for more than one opinion, and keep a close eye on

your child's progress to make sure the therapies are appropriate.

If your child isn't progressing -the diagnosis may be inaccurate -or

quite possibly since impairments tend to overlap -another underlying

communication impairment isn't being addressed. For example -

dysarthria (weakness) with apraxia!

Don't be confused -just remember that a late talker by any other

name is still not talking yet. Our job as those that care for them

is to help bring them a voice -and stamp out " whatchamacallit "

I have two archived messages below on the names game:

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

Date: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:59 am

Subject: Re: angry -apraxia/dyspraxia diagnosis

Deborah is right overall -however apraxia/dyspraxia in the US is the

reversible diagnosis -a child can be diagnosed with dyspraxia 'or'

apraxia, and to many professionals in the US it means the same

thing. In fact Tanner's first SLP diagnosis of apraxia was " I believe

Tanner has apraxia -or dyspraxia -they mean the same thing " and when

I asked her to spell that so I could look it up she wrote on a

little yellow stickie paper for me " dyspraxia apraxia "

I read all the " definitions " of apraxia or dyspraxia, including how

one means motor planning problems of the body -but can affect

speech " dyspraxia " and one means motor planning problems of speech

which can affect body movement " apraxia " which sounded the same to

me but I'm not an expert (and the craziness of those who then add

words like " childhood " or " developmental " in front of

apraxia/dyspraxia, and " of

speech " after which makes it even more confusing since it implies

that once your child grows to become a teenager and then an adult he

will need to keep updating his diagnosis, and that if it also

affects the body you need to say CASAB childhood apraxia of speech

and of body, TASAB teenage apraxia of speech and of body, and then

of course your child's grows old enough for AASAB...well you get the

point!)

In short to know for sure what the diagnosis means -check with the

person that diagnosed your child and ask them to clarify! Once the

medical communities pick up the diagnosis of apraxia for once this

craziness will end! (and yes we are working hard at trying to make

this a reality!)

And for the person that listed all the definitions of apraxia found

on the internet -you forgot the only one from a medical doctor, my

co author of The Late Talker neurodevelopmental pediatrician Dr.

Marilyn Agin -which is very important for us as parents for many

reasons not limited to insurance -but for advocacy -awareness etc.

http://www.cherab.org/information/aginmdapraxia.html

=====

[Guest guest]

HI:)

I just had this conversation with my son's neurologist on Tuesday.

We were told by one SLP he had Apraxia, then his SLP through EI said

she felt he had Dyspraxia but couldn't make a dx until she knew him

better. When we saw the neuro I asked him if he could tell me the

difference, he told me the difference & gave me a dx-my son has

dyspraxia.

What the Neuro told me is that Apraxia is the inability to produce

any sounds due to the inability to coordinate/initiate muscle

movement. Dyspraxia is a severe delay and difficulty in the ability

to do so.

Hope this helps.

Andi

> Hi, I introduced myself a few months ago because I thought my 8-

year-

> old daughter might have verbal apraxia. Well, a couple of weeks

ago,

> she was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia. Now, I am confused. Can

> someone explain the difference between apraxia and dyspraxia? Is it

> the same thing? At the time, I assumed it was, but now I am not so

> sure.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Louise

> Mom to (8, profoundly deaf with Cochlear Implant and verbal

> dyspraxia)

[Guest guest]

I heard Kaufman explain the difference as this - apraxia is the complete

absence of speech (except perhaps a single syllable) whereas dyspraxia is some

sounds and/or speech. The neurological reasons behind both are the same - that

(in really easy explanation) the message from the brain is most likely coming

out fine but the message is getting garbled somewhere along the neuro pathways

so that when it gets to the mouth, the muscles don't react the way they should

in order to volitionally make or repeat a sound. All of this, of course,

happens within milliseconds in a child without apraxia or dyspraxia and the

child speaks. In our children, you can see them groping for the sounds or

words. Josh was diagnosed with verbal/oral apraxia but then someone suggested

that, since he is talking (a lot!) but not always when asked to make certain

sounds, that his condition has changed to verbal dyspraxia (although there

probably is still some overlap between the two with some of the oral

apraxia). His SLP has also added to the mix that she thinks there might be

some dysarthria. All the terms! Hope that helps.

Sherry

louve2005 <vetvikl@...> wrote:

Hi, I introduced myself a few months ago because I thought my 8-year-

old daughter might have verbal apraxia. Well, a couple of weeks ago,

she was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia. Now, I am confused. Can

someone explain the difference between apraxia and dyspraxia? Is it

the same thing? At the time, I assumed it was, but now I am not so

sure.

Thanks,

Louise

Mom to (8, profoundly deaf with Cochlear Implant and verbal

dyspraxia)

[Guest guest]

As promised in my last message -here's the short one word reason on

why apraxia and not dyspraxia even though dyspraxia may be

the " right " name... confusion. The longer answer is in the archive

below:

Re: Article which talks about dyspraxia

Thanks , I so agree that all should view apraxia and

dyspraxia the way you just explained it. Just one little tiny but.

....what makes it even more confusing (in a fun way of course) is

that in the US your child can be diagnosed as " dyspraxic " and they

mean apraxia. When Tanner was first diagnosed with apraxia in 1999

the SLP said to me that Tanner had apraxia, but when she wrote down

the name apraxia for me under that she wrote dyspraxia and

said " it's the same thing " We have people in this group who refer

to their child as dyspraxic or has dyspraxia -and they mean the same

thing as those that say they have a child that's apraxic or has

apraxia.

Here's an archive on this: (I'm starting to really like this new

archive system actually)

Re: Apraxia vs Dyspraxia

Hi Louise and welcome again!

Don't be confused, I think I can explain. The confusion stems from

the definition of adult 'a'praxia vs. 'dys' praxia. In reality our

children are mainly dyspraxic and not apraxic -but communication

impairments don't deal in reality yet or the world would be aware

that most late talkers are not learning disabled and/or autistic.

The medical community is just starting to get involved in

communication impairments outside of hearing, and outside of

autism. Up till now your child will be diagnosed or not with a

variety of speech and language impairments which may or may not be

accurate or appropriate. PDD NOS/history of apraxia most likely if

you live in

California, Speech Language Impaired if you see a PhD studying SLI,

more times apraxia than dyspraxia if you live in New Jersey, (they

are used interchangeably however) and dyspraxia if you like in the

UK.

or...

http://www.cherab.org/information/adhd-speech.html

It's best to go for more than one opinion, and keep a close eye on

your child's progress to make sure the therapies are appropriate.

If your child isn't progressing -the diagnosis may be inaccurate -or

quite possibly since impairments tend to overlap -another underlying

communication impairment isn't being addressed. For example -

dysarthria (weakness) with apraxia!

Don't be confused -just remember that a late talker by any other

name is still not talking yet. Our job as those that care for them

is to help bring them a voice -and stamp out " whatchamacallit "

I have two archived messages below on the names game:

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

Date: Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:59 am

Subject: Re: angry -apraxia/dyspraxia diagnosis

Deborah is right overall -however apraxia/dyspraxia in the US is the

reversible diagnosis -a child can be diagnosed with dyspraxia 'or'

apraxia, and to many professionals in the US it means the same

thing. In fact Tanner's first SLP diagnosis of apraxia was " I believe

Tanner has apraxia -or dyspraxia -they mean the same thing " and when

I asked her to spell that so I could look it up she wrote on a

little yellow stickie paper for me " dyspraxia apraxia "

I read all the " definitions " of apraxia or dyspraxia, including how

one means motor planning problems of the body -but can affect

speech " dyspraxia " and one means motor planning problems of speech

which can affect body movement " apraxia " which sounded the same to

me but I'm not an expert (and the craziness of those who then add

words like " childhood " or " developmental " in front of

apraxia/dyspraxia, and " of

speech " after which makes it even more confusing since it implies

that once your child grows to become a teenager and then an adult he

will need to keep updating his diagnosis, and that if it also

affects the body you need to say CASAB childhood apraxia of speech

and of body, TASAB teenage apraxia of speech and of body, and then

of course your child's grows old enough for AASAB...well you get the

point!)

In short to know for sure what the diagnosis means -check with the

person that diagnosed your child and ask them to clarify! Once the

medical communities pick up the diagnosis of apraxia for once this

craziness will end! (and yes we are working hard at trying to make

this a reality!)

And for the person that listed all the definitions of apraxia found

on the internet -you forgot the only one from a medical doctor, my

co author of The Late Talker neurodevelopmental pediatrician Dr.

Marilyn Agin -which is very important for us as parents for many

reasons not limited to insurance -but for advocacy -awareness etc.

http://www.cherab.org/information/aginmdapraxia.html

=====