Question about getting a diagnosis and our visit to the Ped's office

[Guest guest]

My " mommy gut feeling " tells me that my son, , has childhood

verbal apraxia, so I brought it up to my Ped at his 2.5 year well-

check. I'm not sure I fully understood what she was saying, but I

got the feeling that she didn't agree because my son also has

other " issues " besides his speech delay. He has fixation issues,

some sensory-motor planning problems, and has been said to have a

cognitive delay that I'm not sure if I agree with. I'm not sure what

the Ped's wording was, but I think she was trying to tell me that

apraxia is a condition that exists on its own. That if he had it, he

would comprehend most of what I'm saying but simply be unable to

respond. It wouldn't be paired with a fixation issue or with poor

sensory-motor skills. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

is almost 2.5 years old and receives speech and OT services

through our local ISD's Early Intervention program. I was wondering

what M.A. C.C.C. SLP stand for. I just found out that his speech

thereapist is an MA CCC SLP and I wasn't sure if that title was

interchangable with " speech therapist " . (I'd ask, but I don't want

to offend her.) He sees his SLP once/week in a group setting, and

she sometimes pulls him out of his OT/special ed preschool teacher

group for individual help and observation. I've expressed my

concerns regarding apraxia, however they don't diagnose through this

program. She said she would look for signs but at this point is more

concerned with having him try to use more words for communication and

I think focus on his other issues as well. I realize that you have to

first build a foundation for speech. However, I feel that he does

comprehend at least 80% of what we're saying to him, but either can't

or isn't trying to use words to communicate his needs. He can point

to many objects in books when we ask him to, but doesn't usually try

to say " juice " when he's thirsty. (But he will do the baby sign.)

Most of his words are used for " labeling " things. He names most

simple shapes and all the letters of the alphabet besides " W " . We

can distinguish between them, but the average person would not be

able to. His SLP says that it seems as if struggles to stick

his tongue out and also, he doesn't usually lick food off of his

lips. I'm in the process of re-reading " The Late Talker " and have

identified 17 things abouy that I belive are characteristics of

apraxia. At this point, should I be pushing for a diagnosis or

should we be focusing mainly on his sensory-motor planning

skills, " foundation for communication " and fine motor skills?

Thanks for reading. I realize that I do ask a lot of " elementary

level " questions here, but I don't know where else to look for these

answers.