Help needed - research/articles? Long

[Guest guest]

It seems like just a blink of an eye when my son was two years old,

just being diagnosed with apraxia and I found myself here trying to

find support. Now Nick is 4.9 years and I again need help.

Here are the problems that I am seeking help with;

Number one: Nick's current SLP is the best that we have been with.

Nick likes her and she has got him doing table work and reps that

would have been a nightmare with anyone else. The problem is I feel

as though we are being rushed through. She is indicating that she

doesn't think he will qualify for the coming summer services because

he is able to say the sounds we have been working on in target words

at 80% accuracy. I keep telling her that apraxia is more than just

being able to say the sounds/words, it's about his having extreme

difficulty in putting together sentances and being able to explain

what he is thinking but she tells me that she thinks that is caused

by his word retrival issues and that he will always have it. In

other words, there isn't anything that she can do about it and it

doesn't qualify him for services. Also when there has been words

that he has had trouble with at home, with a sound she has already

written off, she tells me that it's my responsibility to work on it

at home because he is ABLE to say the sound.

Problem number two: In Maine EI goes until 5 yrs of age. I have

just been told that " almost for sure " he will not receive services

from the school district if I don't enter him in kindergarten next

fall. I was told that there is a " very small pot of money for home

schooled children. " I would really like to hear the ins and outs of

placing a 5.5 year old apraxic boy in school. He at this point has

not wanted in any way to go to pre-school and he avoids learning to

visually recognize his alphabet. We've started saving money to pay

for private speech but if anyone knows ways of dealing with a school

situation like this it would be helpful. Maybe he will be ready to

go but at this point I am unsure how one decides that and I don't

want to place him in school when he isn't ready simply because he

needs speech therapy.

Problem three: The EI people, the speech therapist AND the school

people are not hearing me that it is the apraxia that causes him to

frequently be unable to answer direct questions or sometimes even

have difficulty with a task if it is demanded of him. Nick knows

his colors and visually knows his numbers but if he is pressured by

a direct, " WHAT IS THAT NUMBER? " or " WHAT IS THAT COLOR? " he will

frequently freeze or answer incorrectly. These people are telling

me that it is his lack of confidence and I need to bring him to a

psychologist or that it is his word retrival issues once again and

there isn't much we can do, he'll have that all his life. Does

anyone know of research on this? Articles that " professionals " will

listen to? I'm very concerned that they will use testing like this

to determine kindergarten placement. I need hard information to

bring to the school to educate them and I'm not sure where to find

it.

I'm sorry, I'm struggling again and it makes me write long posts

I'm worried and I want to be an educated advocate, not just a

passionate advocate. I apologize for the length of this and am

thankful for having the opportunity to even ask for help. Thank you

in advance for helping me to help my son.

McCann

New Gloucester, Maine USA