20 mo. old with apraxia?

[Guest guest]

I am new to this list, and wonder if any of you have had similar

experiences to mine:

I have a 20 month old son who has high receptive language ability,

but

very poor expressive language. Zach is very communicative with

gestures and signs, but doesn't say much. His " words " typically

consist of " uh " and " ah " with a variety of inflection. My

pediatrician

referred him to a speech therapist, and she diagnosed him with

developmental speech apraxia (expressive language is consistent with

that of a nine-month old). He does seem to have quite a few symptoms

that are consistent with apraxia (drools a lot, uses gestures

and " mime " to convey what he wants, didn't babble as a baby, very few

consonant noises, early difficulties with nursing and eating, now

stuffs his mouth with food), but it seems really early to diagnose

apraxia. On the other hand, if he does have apraxia, I would like to

get him treated early since all the evidence suggest that early

intervention is best.

I am also wondering if he is simply a late-bloomer. My mom has told

me that my brother didn't speak until he was 3, and several members

of our family fit the " Einstein Syndrome " criteria - engineers,

musical, etc.

Has anyone else had similar situations? What kind of longer-term

outcomes have you experienced with your kid(s)? I'd love to hear your

experiences and/or advice.

Thanks,

Mom to Zach, 20 mos.