Re: International Adoption and Apraxia / resources?

October 21, 2006

Hi ,

Welcome to the group! We also adopted our youngest daughter from

China. She was 13 months at adoption and is now 34 months. I could

have written the same post as you just did. We had the exact same

issues, except our daughter never had any feeding problems. We have

had success with the fish oils, but I still can not get her to take

the Vitamin E. Please contact me directly if you like at mommydowd

(remove spaces). I am glad to share our experience so

far.

Congrats on your upcoming " Gotcha " Day,

Suzanne

>

> Hello, all.

>

> I am new to this group and have joined without anyone diagnosing

my

> daughter with apraxia (that is, except Dr. Mom). I'm hoping that

> someone out there has a similar experience to mine and can give me

> some information:

>

> We adopted our daughter from China at age 16 months one year ago

> next week (can't believe it's been a year already!!!). When we

got

> Kate, she was apparently saying four words in Chinese, all one-

> syllable, two of which began with the /b/ or /d/ sound. She was

> saying mama, which is two syllables, but that doesn't quite seem

the

> same to me.

>

> At age 21 months, she said papa. Since then, she's added the

> following:

>

> baaaaw = ball

> bububu = butterfly

> bububughh = ladybug

> mooooo = moon

> un or nun = sun

> daaaaah = star

> and lots of animal sounds, but none that require much lip or

tongue

> movement.

>

> She can say every letter name, but doesn't form any two word

> sentences unless imitating me one word at a time (example:

I, " ayy "

> Want (Wuh, wuh, wuh), Milk (Mmmmmm).

>

> When she's excited about something, there's lots of noise, she

does

> verbalize a lot, but not with consonants.

>

> Additionally:

>

> ~Excessive drooling

> ~High receptive vocabulary (above age level at 21 months, even

> though her exposure to English was only 5 months old).

> ~Low muscle tone according to her speech therapist and physical

> therapist.

> ~Sensory issues

> ~Struggling with self-feeding

> ~Major moodiness / meltdowns

> ~More that I can't think of now

>

> Kate has been in speech therapy for a few months now and is making

> little progress, despite everyone's best efforts. I finally told

> the SLP that I really believed something was " wrong " with Kate,

> something more than a delay and she mentioned the possibility of

> apraxia. So, I'm asking for input from someone who might be

> familiar with the added glitch of international adoption.

>

> Of course, everyone tells me, " she'll catch up. It's just because

> of the language change. " This is despite the fact that her travel

> mates during adoption are not at all like her. They are rapidly

> closing the gap with their non-internationally-adopted peers.

Kate

> is falling farther behind.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

> Thanks for plodding through my long post,

>

> Lucky Mama to Kate

>

October 21, 2006

Hi ,

Welcome to the group! We also adopted our youngest daughter from

China. She was 13 months at adoption and is now 34 months. I could

have written the same post as you just did. We had the exact same

issues, except our daughter never had any feeding problems. We have

had success with the fish oils, but I still can not get her to take

the Vitamin E. Please contact me directly if you like at mommydowd

(remove spaces). I am glad to share our experience so

far.

Congrats on your upcoming " Gotcha " Day,

Suzanne

>

> Hello, all.

>

> I am new to this group and have joined without anyone diagnosing

my

> daughter with apraxia (that is, except Dr. Mom). I'm hoping that

> someone out there has a similar experience to mine and can give me

> some information:

>

> We adopted our daughter from China at age 16 months one year ago

> next week (can't believe it's been a year already!!!). When we

got

> Kate, she was apparently saying four words in Chinese, all one-

> syllable, two of which began with the /b/ or /d/ sound. She was

> saying mama, which is two syllables, but that doesn't quite seem

the

> same to me.

>

> At age 21 months, she said papa. Since then, she's added the

> following:

>

> baaaaw = ball

> bububu = butterfly

> bububughh = ladybug

> mooooo = moon

> un or nun = sun

> daaaaah = star

> and lots of animal sounds, but none that require much lip or

tongue

> movement.

>

> She can say every letter name, but doesn't form any two word

> sentences unless imitating me one word at a time (example:

I, " ayy "

> Want (Wuh, wuh, wuh), Milk (Mmmmmm).

>

> When she's excited about something, there's lots of noise, she

does

> verbalize a lot, but not with consonants.

>

> Additionally:

>

> ~Excessive drooling

> ~High receptive vocabulary (above age level at 21 months, even

> though her exposure to English was only 5 months old).

> ~Low muscle tone according to her speech therapist and physical

> therapist.

> ~Sensory issues

> ~Struggling with self-feeding

> ~Major moodiness / meltdowns

> ~More that I can't think of now

>

> Kate has been in speech therapy for a few months now and is making

> little progress, despite everyone's best efforts. I finally told

> the SLP that I really believed something was " wrong " with Kate,

> something more than a delay and she mentioned the possibility of

> apraxia. So, I'm asking for input from someone who might be

> familiar with the added glitch of international adoption.

>

> Of course, everyone tells me, " she'll catch up. It's just because

> of the language change. " This is despite the fact that her travel

> mates during adoption are not at all like her. They are rapidly

> closing the gap with their non-internationally-adopted peers.

Kate

> is falling farther behind.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

> Thanks for plodding through my long post,

>

> Lucky Mama to Kate

>

October 22, 2006

hello, I am also an adoptive mom. Our daughter has been home from

China for a year and is now 2 years old. Glad to find more adoptive

moms to talk to! I find that the China adoptive community is not very

welcoming to discussion of language delays except on some of the

attachment issues websites - where I feel like a fraud, as our child

appears to be doing very well in that way.

Our child also had babbling and a variety of sounds when we met her -

then they stopped. Silence, and drooling, though lots of interest in

communicating in other ways. Now after about 4 months of speech

therapy and 6 weeks of fish oil she is much more verbal though I feel

she is maybe dysarthric as well as apraxic. Receptive language and

other cognitive skills including social play are way ahead for age.

My daughter did get a formal diagnosis of apraxia (verbal only in our

case) from a neurologist.

I think that nutritional lacks may play a part in the situation of

some of the children from China - maybe prenatal diets were not

optimal for some of our daughters, and depending on the part of China

perhaps there were prenatal exposures to things that, in this country,

are felt not to be good for pregnant women. These are of course just

guesses on my part. And I wonder also if the transition from such a

different language itself plays a role in the development of apraxia

in this group.

My daughter is from southwest China - what region are your daughters

from? Hope to hear from you both more, please feel free to email me

off list.

Sara

October 22, 2006

hello, I am also an adoptive mom. Our daughter has been home from

China for a year and is now 2 years old. Glad to find more adoptive

moms to talk to! I find that the China adoptive community is not very

welcoming to discussion of language delays except on some of the

attachment issues websites - where I feel like a fraud, as our child

appears to be doing very well in that way.

Our child also had babbling and a variety of sounds when we met her -

then they stopped. Silence, and drooling, though lots of interest in

communicating in other ways. Now after about 4 months of speech

therapy and 6 weeks of fish oil she is much more verbal though I feel

she is maybe dysarthric as well as apraxic. Receptive language and

other cognitive skills including social play are way ahead for age.

My daughter did get a formal diagnosis of apraxia (verbal only in our

case) from a neurologist.

I think that nutritional lacks may play a part in the situation of

some of the children from China - maybe prenatal diets were not

optimal for some of our daughters, and depending on the part of China

perhaps there were prenatal exposures to things that, in this country,

are felt not to be good for pregnant women. These are of course just

guesses on my part. And I wonder also if the transition from such a

different language itself plays a role in the development of apraxia

in this group.

My daughter is from southwest China - what region are your daughters

from? Hope to hear from you both more, please feel free to email me

off list.

Sara

November 4, 2006

hi my name is marylyn. We have 2 daughters from china. My oldest is doing

quite well. But Jamilee our 4 year old has had quite a time learning to talk.

It seemed she was in her own little world when we got her in 2003 at 14 months.

Finallly at the age of 3 she was diagnosed with apraxia from the speech

therapist at her school. Just now at the age of 4 is it starting to click and

words and phrases and questions are starting to roll off her tongue. I never

thought I would ever hear her voice. Thank you God...... Believe it or

not it will happen but it's so hard to be patient. lyn.

sarchina2003 <sar2005@...> wrote: hello, I am also an adoptive mom.

Our daughter has been home from

China for a year and is now 2 years old. Glad to find more adoptive

moms to talk to! I find that the China adoptive community is not very

welcoming to discussion of language delays except on some of the

attachment issues websites - where I feel like a fraud, as our child

appears to be doing very well in that way.

Our child also had babbling and a variety of sounds when we met her -

then they stopped. Silence, and drooling, though lots of interest in

communicating in other ways. Now after about 4 months of speech

therapy and 6 weeks of fish oil she is much more verbal though I feel

she is maybe dysarthric as well as apraxic. Receptive language and

other cognitive skills including social play are way ahead for age.

My daughter did get a formal diagnosis of apraxia (verbal only in our

case) from a neurologist.

I think that nutritional lacks may play a part in the situation of

some of the children from China - maybe prenatal diets were not

optimal for some of our daughters, and depending on the part of China

perhaps there were prenatal exposures to things that, in this country,

are felt not to be good for pregnant women. These are of course just

guesses on my part. And I wonder also if the transition from such a

different language itself plays a role in the development of apraxia

in this group.

My daughter is from southwest China - what region are your daughters

from? Hope to hear from you both more, please feel free to email me

off list.

Sara

---------------------------------

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November 4, 2006

hi My doughter Jamilee who is now 4 is just starting to talk. They diagnosed

her with apraxia last year when she started preschool. She was adopted from

China in 2003 at the age of 14 months. It has been a long haul. For a while i

reallly didn't believe ther was a light at the end of the tunnnel... But there

is its just that some tunnnels are a heck of alot longer than others. When i

would get together with the other adopted moms i would feel sad afterward when

i would see how well their daughters were doing. Sometimes i felt that little

hole in my heart and stomach was never going to xlose but as she started to talk

started to feel better inside... God help us all. lyn.

luckymamatokate <mbraun@...> wrote: Hello, all.

I am new to this group and have joined without anyone diagnosing my

daughter with apraxia (that is, except Dr. Mom). I'm hoping that

someone out there has a similar experience to mine and can give me

some information:

We adopted our daughter from China at age 16 months one year ago

next week (can't believe it's been a year already!!!). When we got

Kate, she was apparently saying four words in Chinese, all one-

syllable, two of which began with the /b/ or /d/ sound. She was

saying mama, which is two syllables, but that doesn't quite seem the

same to me.

At age 21 months, she said papa. Since then, she's added the

following:

baaaaw = ball

bububu = butterfly

bububughh = ladybug

mooooo = moon

un or nun = sun

daaaaah = star

and lots of animal sounds, but none that require much lip or tongue

movement.

She can say every letter name, but doesn't form any two word

sentences unless imitating me one word at a time (example: I, " ayy "

Want (Wuh, wuh, wuh), Milk (Mmmmmm).

When she's excited about something, there's lots of noise, she does

verbalize a lot, but not with consonants.

Additionally:

~Excessive drooling

~High receptive vocabulary (above age level at 21 months, even

though her exposure to English was only 5 months old).

~Low muscle tone according to her speech therapist and physical

therapist.

~Sensory issues

~Struggling with self-feeding

~Major moodiness / meltdowns

~More that I can't think of now

Kate has been in speech therapy for a few months now and is making

little progress, despite everyone's best efforts. I finally told

the SLP that I really believed something was " wrong " with Kate,

something more than a delay and she mentioned the possibility of

apraxia. So, I'm asking for input from someone who might be

familiar with the added glitch of international adoption.

Of course, everyone tells me, " she'll catch up. It's just because

of the language change. " This is despite the fact that her travel

mates during adoption are not at all like her. They are rapidly

closing the gap with their non-internationally-adopted peers. Kate

is falling farther behind.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for plodding through my long post,

Lucky Mama to Kate

---------------------------------

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November 5, 2006

hi my name is marylyn. We have 2 daughters from china. My oldest is doing

quite well. But Jamilee our 4 year old has had quite a time learning to talk.

It seemed she was in her own little world when we got her in 2003 at 14 months.

Finallly at the age of 3 she was diagnosed with apraxia from the speech

therapist at her school. Just now at the age of 4 is it starting to click and

words and phrases and questions are starting to roll off her tongue. I never

thought I would ever hear her voice. Thank you God...... Believe it or

not it will happen but it's so hard to be patient. lyn.

sarchina2003 <sar2005@...> wrote: hello, I am also an adoptive mom.

Our daughter has been home from

China for a year and is now 2 years old. Glad to find more adoptive

moms to talk to! I find that the China adoptive community is not very

welcoming to discussion of language delays except on some of the

attachment issues websites - where I feel like a fraud, as our child

appears to be doing very well in that way.

Our child also had babbling and a variety of sounds when we met her -

then they stopped. Silence, and drooling, though lots of interest in

communicating in other ways. Now after about 4 months of speech

therapy and 6 weeks of fish oil she is much more verbal though I feel

she is maybe dysarthric as well as apraxic. Receptive language and

other cognitive skills including social play are way ahead for age.

My daughter did get a formal diagnosis of apraxia (verbal only in our

case) from a neurologist.

I think that nutritional lacks may play a part in the situation of

some of the children from China - maybe prenatal diets were not

optimal for some of our daughters, and depending on the part of China

perhaps there were prenatal exposures to things that, in this country,

are felt not to be good for pregnant women. These are of course just

guesses on my part. And I wonder also if the transition from such a

different language itself plays a role in the development of apraxia

in this group.

My daughter is from southwest China - what region are your daughters

from? Hope to hear from you both more, please feel free to email me

off list.

Sara

---------------------------------

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November 5, 2006