speech therapy question

August 14, 2006

Hello, don't post often here but have an issue. My son is now 9 yrs

old....he was originally dx pdd-nos at 20 months old. When he was

about 3, dx of apraxia/dyspraxia was added. Now, at 9 yrs old, and

many different therpies, biomed etc...we have a great healthy looking

9 yr old boy that doesn't show many signs of pdd...he has a full vocab

but we are still troubled by the tone/pitch of his voice. He sorta

yells his words, and seems to breathe in or run out of breathe when

he is talking. I have posted here before regarding this but am

wondering what we should be doing? He does get seech in school, but

i'm really not sure how " good " it is. I would like to get speech

outside school.....where??? local hospital? does insurance cover?

His articulation is actually pretty good now, it seems to be the

sound of his voice that makes him stand out. Also, should h be

getting ot therapy for this too? thanks for any feedback! rita

August 15, 2006

Hi Rita -

I'm just guessing here, but I'd say that it would be hard to get

private therapy covered if he's speaking at an age-appropriate level

without a doc's intervening.

I think I'd want to know if there was an underlying CAUSE to the

irregular breathing patterns - some medical diagnosis which would

afford you therapy. If not, talking to your doc about it and seeing

if s/he would get behind a " medical necessity " letter would be the

best route.

I agree that often ST at school are too generalized or too

overwhelmed (or, just frankly, bottom of the barrel) to manage

something so complicated. Striving for private where you have some

choice of specialty is probably the best. If this winds up not

being possible, contact easter seals, shriners, children's hospitals

and other non-profits in your area that offer S and L therapy.

Good luck -M

>

> Hello, don't post often here but have an issue. My son is now 9

yrs

> old....he was originally dx pdd-nos at 20 months old. When he was

> about 3, dx of apraxia/dyspraxia was added. Now, at 9 yrs old,

and

> many different therpies, biomed etc...we have a great healthy

looking

> 9 yr old boy that doesn't show many signs of pdd...he has a full

vocab

> but we are still troubled by the tone/pitch of his voice. He

sorta

> yells his words, and seems to breathe in or run out of breathe

when

> he is talking. I have posted here before regarding this but am

> wondering what we should be doing? He does get seech in school,

but

> i'm really not sure how " good " it is. I would like to get speech

> outside school.....where??? local hospital? does insurance cover?

> His articulation is actually pretty good now, it seems to be the

> sound of his voice that makes him stand out. Also, should h be

> getting ot therapy for this too? thanks for any feedback! rita

>

August 15, 2006

Rita,

A sort of off the wall idea, but, it may get you the therapy covered.

My good friend's daughter is a fabulous singer, BUT,she has diction

issues(think that is the term my friend used), my terminology in

regards to a singing voice is not too accurate,but you should get the

gist of what she did to get therapy covered.

Her daughter is taking singing lessens, and the teacher said she has

issues getting enough air in to get the stamina to complete a song.

She got speech therapy covered thru her insurance, obviously this is

not a speech issue persay but a breathing/speaking/singing thing,

however, it got her the therapy covered. Since he is the age he is,

perhaps it is possible to get it covered for this problem. Just an idea.

Colleen

>

> Hello, don't post often here but have an issue. My son is now 9 yrs

> old....he was originally dx pdd-nos at 20 months old. When he was

> about 3, dx of apraxia/dyspraxia was added. Now, at 9 yrs old, and

> many different therpies, biomed etc...we have a great healthy looking

> 9 yr old boy that doesn't show many signs of pdd...he has a full vocab

> but we are still troubled by the tone/pitch of his voice. He sorta

> yells his words, and seems to breathe in or run out of breathe when

> he is talking. I have posted here before regarding this but am

> wondering what we should be doing? He does get seech in school, but

> i'm really not sure how " good " it is. I would like to get speech

> outside school.....where??? local hospital? does insurance cover?

> His articulation is actually pretty good now, it seems to be the

> sound of his voice that makes him stand out. Also, should h be

> getting ot therapy for this too? thanks for any feedback! rita

>

August 15, 2006

I've got an idea too. Have you tried AIT (auditory integration

therapy)? My kidlet is only 3.8 but this is a very interesting

therapy that may help.

August 15, 2006

Hi my son is 8 and though he doesn't yell he has a very flat tone

when he speaks. He too is very intelligible and has been released

from speech. His private SLP works on having him speak out loud

adding inflection while he reads. Sometimes she records him so he

can hear himself and correct it.

OT can also help with the breathing b/c from what I remember it can

be attributed to low tone in the upper body.

>

> Hello, don't post often here but have an issue. My son is now 9

yrs

> old....he was originally dx pdd-nos at 20 months old. When he was

> about 3, dx of apraxia/dyspraxia was added. Now, at 9 yrs old,

and

> many different therpies, biomed etc...we have a great healthy

looking

> 9 yr old boy that doesn't show many signs of pdd...he has a full

vocab

> but we are still troubled by the tone/pitch of his voice. He

sorta

> yells his words, and seems to breathe in or run out of breathe

when

> he is talking. I have posted here before regarding this but am

> wondering what we should be doing? He does get seech in school,

but

> i'm really not sure how " good " it is. I would like to get speech

> outside school.....where??? local hospital? does insurance cover?

> His articulation is actually pretty good now, it seems to be the

> sound of his voice that makes him stand out. Also, should h be

> getting ot therapy for this too? thanks for any feedback! rita

>

March 7, 2007

Has your child been dx'd with anything specific?

Finding the right therapist is the key to successful therapy.

-- In , " dialaxi23 "

<dialaxi23@...> wrote:

>

> It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

> therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

> should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

>

> The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance

that

> we are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this

great

> book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to

apply

> its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

> difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

>

> I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (s)he

supposed

> to give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe

ST is

> something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily

life.

>

> Any comment is appreciated.

>

March 7, 2007

Has your child been diagnosed with apraxia? If so, I would recommend

finding a Speech Therapist who has expertise with apraxia. Not all

do. We use the Kaufmann Kit at home for our son (4 years old with

apraxia). Our speech therapist also uses the Kaufman protocol.

>

> It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

> therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

> should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

>

> The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance

that

> we are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this

great

> book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to

apply

> its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

> difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

>

> I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (s)he

supposed

> to give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe

ST is

> something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily

life.

>

> Any comment is appreciated.

>

March 7, 2007

I am having trouble...when I initially signed up, I must have set it for the

emails to come to my inbox. I have tried to reset it to let me check the boards

on the website only, but it doesn't seem to happen. Is anyone looking at this

that can make that go through for me?

Thanks,

Bernadette

Bernadette,

Jeanne here. I am one of the moderators.I can change it web only.

[ ] Re: Speech therapy question

Has your child been dx'd with anything specific?

Finding the right therapist is the key to successful therapy.

-- In , " dialaxi23 "

<dialaxi23@...> wrote:

>

> It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

> therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

> should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

>

> The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance

that

> we are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this

great

> book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to

apply

> its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

> difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

>

> I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (s)he

supposed

> to give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe

ST is

> something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily

life.

>

> Any comment is appreciated.

>

March 8, 2007

I totally agree with . Cody is severely " text book " apraxic as well. It's

almost like they looked at my son when they listed the characteristics!

Cody has made more progress w/ prompt as well, since we finally pointed out to

the school that he ONLY has apraxia & to stop tryingn to treat something that he

doesn't have.

Good luck to you.

<kwatsoneei@...> wrote:

Yes, speech therapy is something that has to be done actively at

home, but it really is crucial to have a correct diagnosis so that

the correct type of ST techniques can be used and a licensed SLP can

teach that. It isn't a one-size-fits-all situation. If you suspect

apraxia, and your speech therapist hasn't ventured any guesses in

terms of what a diagnosis might be yet, then I'd switch therapists.

I just wasted a year with 3 SLPs that told me they knew apraxia, but

did not. They couldn't even recognize a severe textbook case (and

they wouldn't listen to me when I showed them in print just how

textbook he is). Now that we have a severe apraxia diagnosis (as of

Jan) and an appropriate treatment plan, my son has made more progress

in the past month than he did all last year. The difference is the

types of techniques used. We are using PROMPT, Beckman Oral Motor

stimulation and Kaufman (along with other types of prompts).

I can't emphasize enough that a correct diagnosis is key.

>

> It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

> therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

> should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

>

> The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance

that

> we are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this

great

> book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to

apply

> its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

> difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

>

> I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (s)he

supposed

> to give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe

ST is

> something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily

life.

>

> Any comment is appreciated.

>

March 8, 2007

does your school district have an autism program? Ours has one that's available

from ages 3 yrs & up.

<dialaxi23@...> wrote: He has been diagnosted with

mild/moderate autism.

lcjjjjdds <lcjjjjdds@...> wrote: Has your child been diagnosed with

apraxia? If so, I would recommend

finding a Speech Therapist who has expertise with apraxia. Not all

do. We use the Kaufmann Kit at home for our son (4 years old with

apraxia). Our speech therapist also uses the Kaufman protocol.

>

> It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

> therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

> should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

>

> The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance

that

> we are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this

great

> book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to

apply

> its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

> difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

>

> I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (s)he

supposed

> to give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe

ST is

> something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily

life.

>

> Any comment is appreciated.

>

March 8, 2007

My son is 2, with likely apraxia. The speech therapist (2xs week) devleoped

her own protocal for apraxia, and I wanted to ask you all about it, as I just

don't see much progress, and wonder whether we should just persevere, or seek

another therapist. (My son does not imitate sounds. He does not stick his

tongue out of his mouth. He has some approximations and some words, like nana(

for mommy) dada, oma (grandma) bago (all cars/trucks) and he learned " no " last

week although he isn't using it in context.

The therapist plays with certain toys each week, saying up and down as we

play. We try to keep him with the same activity for 5 minutes, and she strives

for lots of repetitions of these words. She says that eventually, after having

heard them a hundred or more times, then he will associate those sounds with the

toy/activity and will just say it on his own. I haven't heard it yet. She does

not encourage the use of sign..(although we have a Baby Babble tape and once he

learned the sign for " More " he has started using it on his own, appropriately)

Is this protocal consistent with what you all are doing? how much progress is

expected? thanks,

March 8, 2007

Just from experience, I took my daughter when she was three to the local

school (public) on request of her speech therapist. Due to her Medicaid

being cut off, I could not afford to take her (even with insurance with a

co-pay) three times a week. Liz has been in school since she was three and

gets speech therapy three times a week. You might could check your local

public school and see if they offer those services. In my experience with

the various places we have lived most all schools offer this before school

age.

Speech therapy question

Posted by: " dialaxi23 " dialaxi23@... dialaxi23

Wed Mar 7, 2007 10:50 am (PST)

It is more than a month that we have started to visit this speech

Therapist once a week, but I am not sure if this is enough or even

Should I continue to go there (and pay from my pocket) any more?

The problem is that she has not been able to give us some guidance that

We are not already applying to our daily life style. We got this great

Book " More than words " a few months ago and have been trying to apply

Its recommendations to our 2.5 years old son and do not see a big

Difference between what we have done and what she recommends.

I am not sure what is the task of a speech therapist? Is (S)he supposed

To give us a plan to work on it or what? I am thinking that maybe ST is

Something that could easily be done by the parents in the daily life.

Any comment is appreciated.

March 8, 2007

I have to strongly agree with on this. Each SLP has a different

style and different strength set. If your SLP is not giving you " home

work " and doesn't work well with your child/you then seek out another

SLP. One thing you can do is ask the SLP before you go to your first

appointment what she/he likes to focus on. I would also make it very

clear that you want help with doing things at home to carry through

what the SLP is doing. If you don't get what is right keep trying new

SLPs. Another good place to ask is your doctor and other parents in

your area. We found the best SLP in the world for my son (he has

speech delay and oral motor/feeding issues) because of our

pediatrician's recommendation. My son in the time it took his prior

feeding person to get him to be calm is now drinking and taking some

solids (we are talking 1-2 months when the previous person has been

working with him for 6-7 months and hadn't gotten anywhere). Don't be

afraid to be that " pushy " parent. I would also say do so

appropriately such that you also don't get labeled as that " impossible

parent " .

HTH

> Yes, speech therapy is something that has to be done actively at

> home, but it really is crucial to have a correct diagnosis so that

> the correct type of ST techniques can be used and a licensed SLP can

> teach that. It isn't a one-size-fits-all situation.

March 8, 2007

one of my son's slp's made the same attempt. Unfortunately it didn't

work. From what I understand about Apraxia, its retraining the brain

to make the sound correctly. Hearing it over & over & over & being

told to say it over & over & over might cause a lot of frustration

for an apraxic child.-

-- In , " Tiana Irvin "

<tianairvin@...> wrote:

>

> My son is 2, with likely apraxia. The speech therapist (2xs week)

devleoped her own protocal for apraxia, and I wanted to ask you all

about it, as I just don't see much progress, and wonder whether we

should just persevere, or seek another therapist. (My son does not

imitate sounds. He does not stick his tongue out of his mouth. He

has some approximations and some words, like nana( for mommy) dada,

oma (grandma) bago (all cars/trucks) and he learned " no " last week

although he isn't using it in context.

> The therapist plays with certain toys each week, saying up and

down as we play. We try to keep him with the same activity for 5

minutes, and she strives for lots of repetitions of these words. She

says that eventually, after having heard them a hundred or more

times, then he will associate those sounds with the toy/activity and

will just say it on his own. I haven't heard it yet. She does not

encourage the use of sign..(although we have a Baby Babble tape and

once he learned the sign for " More " he has started using it on his

own, appropriately)

>

> Is this protocal consistent with what you all are doing? how much

progress is expected? thanks,

>

March 8, 2007

OK - I'll start out with the caveat that I'm not an SLP and I hope

some of the SLPs that participate in this group will respond, but I'm

going to give my 2 cents from our past year's journey -

You know when you see in the apraxia assessment literature that one

of the things to look for with apraxic children is that they don't

respond to " traditional therapy techniques " ? What you described is

what I know as one of the " traditional therapy techniques " . It is

not an approach to treating apraxia. Children with apraxia usually

have much better receptive language than expressive, so just being

exposed to spoken language isn't going to help them speak. They

likely already know the word in their heads - they need to be taught

motor planning and in some cases even need support to learn to

physically form the word with their mouth. And yes, repetition is

key, but it is more than just exposing the child to the spoken word.

Our first SLP (Feb 06) used this approach. I was perplexed as to why

she would come twice a week and just play with him. I told her one

day that I knew what the outcome was supposed to be but I didn't

understand the theory behind this " play therapy " . She said it was

just exposure, getting down on his level and letting him hear

language. I laughed and asked her to look around my messy house -

did it looked like I did anything else but play and talk to him? She

definitely couldn't dispute that At the time I had not even heard

of apraxia (and she didn't know how to recognize it), so she was just

starting with a traditional therapy.

And signing is so wonderful and will not delay verbal speech. I

wonder why she would not encourage it. Giving a child a way to

actively communicate before they learn to verbally speak is such a

gift.

I'd find a new therapist. If you discuss apraxia and the person

can't discuss it with you the way we discuss it here and they way it

is presented in The Late Talker and on the CHERAB web info, then they

don't know apraxia the way you need them to.