(No subject)

[Guest guest]

Oh, and I never did say what I really wanted to say on my last reply

to your post (I swear I think I'm going through some sort of grieving

process and I'm stuck on " anger " . I know there are good,

knowledgable SLPs out there, including the ones that post to this

group. Hopefully I'll move on soon...)

I would have never felt the need to go see Dr. Agin if I could have

gotten the proper therapy techniques used for my son. If you feel

they are using proper techniques and your child is responding, then

you may be OK without a true apraxia dx. My problem was that I asked

(and at the time I was practically yelling) our SLP if I had an

apraxia diagnosis, would she treat him differently. The answer was

yes. So I knew what I had to do.

Through Dr. Agin's report and talking to our current SLP, I've

learned something about expressive language disorders secondary to

apraxia. Some (most?) children with apraxia have a secondary

expressive language disorder because they " are struggling to combine

sounds into simple syllables, they are missing the opportunity to

develop age-appropriate expressive language skills " . That made

perfect sense to me. So if you feel strongly it is apraxia and the

professionals you are working with won't at least TRY to treat him

with techniques such as Kaufman, Beckman Oral-motor and PROMPT, I'd

just keep looking.

>

> I thought I would pass on this information and share something that

has been on my mind. My son Luke is 28 months. He has been receiving

early intervention services (EI) since he was 25 months for speech.

The EI team evaluated him with a developmental therapist and speech

pathologist. Anyways, he qualified for speech which I knew right

away. As my son started receiving services I was constantly

researching on the Internet and read a couple books from the

library. The Late Talker was a lightbulb moment for me. I knew Luke

has apraxia. I approached his speech teacher on the subject and she

said, " Yes there are some problems but let's call it oral motor

planning. " Then I ended up taking my youngest to his 4 month checkup

with a pediatrician we normally do not see. (There are 6 in the

practice and we have a favorite.) I told her that I believe my

oldest son has apraxia. She stared at me with her eyes bulging out

and immediately asked, " Does he use eye contact? " She

> did not ask anything about his receptive language, sensory issues,

personality, etc.? I knew that autism and apraxia are often

assosciated together yet my adorable son's only issue is the

expressive language. Anyways, I asked and kind of played dumb, " Is

apraxia assosciated with autism? " She gave me the same stare as

before and said, " Yes! " Then I asked, playing dumb again, " Can a

child be diagnosed only with apraxia? " She said, " No. " Lastly, I

asked if I should take Luke to see a neurologist. The doctor said

yes. She recommended someone but we ended up visiting a

developmental pediatrician through my EI coordinator and her

recommendation. Last week Luke had the complete evaluation with the

developmental pediatrician, speech pathologist, OT, social worker,

and psychologist. What was the outcome? The developmental

pediatrician said Luke is doing extremely well and tested age

appropriate or above on all levels with the exception of the

expressive language. Then he

> stated, " Luke does not have apraxia " because I kept insisting

that I thought he had apraxia. Instead he has expressive language

delay. His reasoning for Luke not having apraxia was because

Luke " tested " well on all levels with the exception of expressive

language. Also, if he had apraxia he would be having other problems

perhaps with fine motor or gross motor skills. In addition, he said

since Luke's vocabulary has grown up to 30 words including

environmental sounds that it is not apraxia. Yes, Luke's vocabulary

has grown but most of the words are not clear and my husband and I

are the only ones who can understand him. Interestingly, the speech

pathologists only question was how many words are clear and I

answered 5. She did not have any other comments. Instead the

developmental pediatrician did all the talking.

> Overall, I could not believe that Luke did not have

apraxia. I kept telling my husband that I believe it is apraxia.

The next day Luke's speech teacher came over and I told her the whole

story. She said, " Yes, it is apraxia but it is called verbal apraxia

because it is only affecting his oral skills (mouth, tongue, jaw,

teeth, etc.).

>

> I really wanted to share this story and would love some

feedback. Luke is making progress and I am soooo proud of him. Of

course it is hard and frusturating and I feel anxious all the time

because I want him to be talking but I love him sooo much and I am

not giving up because I know he will overcome this. Marie

>

>

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