Home
Log in / Sign Up
    Private Messages   Advanced Search   Rules   New User Guide   FAQ   Advertise   Contact Us  
Forum -> Children's Health
Apraxia
1  2  Next



Post new topic   Reply to topic View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother
Silver


 

Post Thu, Aug 27 2015, 10:23 pm
My dd was "diagnosed" with apraxia.
I put it in quotes because it was a speech therapist, not a neurologist.
I would like to hear others experiences with this. I'm looking for advice, information, chizzuk....
I want to know what I'm up against and what treatment is going to be like.
I am in NY and she is getting services through ei already.
Back to top

the world's best mom




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 6:02 am
Depending on the severity of the case, many children make tons of progress with the help of an amazing speech therapist. I have kids who had very severe apraxia, but they speak clearly now. At one point my dd was not making much progress for a year, because her speech therapist had left and the new therapist wasn't good. Luckily, the old therapist came back and her progress continued.

That dd had a very severe case. She learned to say the "ee" sound at three years old, but couldn't put it together with other sounds. She finally learned to say Mommy at 3 1/2 years old. She is 9 now, and you cannot tell that she ever had trouble speaking.
Back to top

tweety1




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 6:20 am
From my own personal experience. "Apraxia" is a very general term. Does your son have apraxia of speech? If so make sure you get an apraxic of speech certified therapist. Been there done that. Wasted 2 yrs of speech therapy cuz he didn't have an apraxic of speech therapist. Once he got the right therapist we saw results. Now bh my son is 8 yrs old and it's bh history. Any info you need you can pm me. Been through a lot in this field.
Back to top

amother
Cyan


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 7:19 am
How old is your dd? I'm in a similar position. I don't have much advice or info since this is very recent for me...
Back to top

amother
Silver


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 7:44 am
We think it's overall apraxia but at this point the major delay is speech. In other areas she bh closed the delay gap.
I do have a certified PROMPT therapist and am seeing slow progress. Right now she's only getting 2x30 but we are in middle of fighting for more. I want to get the max out of ei now because she's aging out in a few months.
Is apraxia hereditary? Do I need to be concerned about future children? Any way to prevent it?
How long did it take for your child to start speaking clearly?
Back to top

amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 8:03 am
SLP here... there is alot of misinformation here...
1.An SLP is qualified to diagnose apraxia
2. There is no such thing as an apraxia of speech SLP. There may be one with more experience or success with apraxia but nothing more than that.
3. PROMPT. There is a method called PROMPT that has been shown to work with children who have apraxia. It is by no means the only method that can work.
4. There are other methods of working with children with apraxia
5. Apraxia is rare is often overdiagnosed. Just because a child isnt talking or has unclear speech does not mean the child has apraxia!! I could name several other conditions that would mimic apraxia but may be too technical...
6. Apraxia is marked by effortful/groping/inconsistent speech more commonly with erred vowels.
7. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of kids and I would only maybe give one child a diagnosis of mild apraxia...maybe...
8. It is possible apraxia has a genetic component but that in no way means future children will have.
9. Prognosis is good with consistent soeech therapy. If no progress is seen, a change in SLP may be necessary.
10. Repetition is key in true apraxia...
Hatzlacha Rabba!! May your child be talking clearly soon.
Back to top

amother
Azure


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 8:31 am
I have an child with apraxia of speech deff a speech therapist is qualified to give such a dignosis based on the progress and the errors your child makes. Under 3 they give a possible diengoses and can treat as such but don't like to give official dignosis till 3. by my child it was suspected early on in ei her therapist treated with prompt and repertion. We only got an official dignosis when the school system wanted one at 3. We started speech very early on at 8months she had ear tube at 16months and by 3 she was getting 3 hours a week speech and 1 hour DI and she maybe had 100 aproxiamtions and spoke at most 3 word sentence if that. she is now 6 doing so much better but still has ways to go the biggest sign for her of apraxia and not a phonological delay is her vowel are off and she can sound like she has an accent. Also she can say the word the right way repeating it slowly after me but 10 min later when she says it it's wrong again. As a toddler we would teach her a word like open and she would forget it. Deff push for more speech 2x30 is not enough.
Back to top

amother
Silver


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 9:01 am
Besides for her speech therapist, I went for a consultation, and that therapist also confirmed apraxia. I was told that be ei guidelines a therapist can not make an official diagnosis.
She is almost 3 and just now started to say 4 or 5 monosyllable words. She is also starting to show behavior issues when she is frustrated from not being understood.
Back to top

amother
Silver


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 9:03 am
I would also like to get referrals of therapists experienced in treating apraxia. I am in flatbush. If anyone has a good recommendation, please let me know and I will pm you for details.
Back to top

tweety1




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 9:26 am
amother wrote:
SLP here... there is alot of misinformation here...
1.An SLP is qualified to diagnose apraxia
2. There is no such thing as an apraxia of speech SLP. There may be one with more experience or success with apraxia but nothing more than that.
3. PROMPT. There is a method called PROMPT that has been shown to work with children who have apraxia. It is by no means the only method that can work.
4. There are other methods of working with children with apraxia
5. Apraxia is rare is often overdiagnosed. Just because a child isnt talking or has unclear speech does not mean the child has apraxia!! I could name several other conditions that would mimic apraxia but may be too technical...
6. Apraxia is marked by effortful/groping/inconsistent speech more commonly with erred vowels.
7. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of kids and I would only maybe give one child a diagnosis of mild apraxia...maybe...
8. It is possible apraxia has a genetic component but that in no way means future children will have.
9. Prognosis is good with consistent soeech therapy. If no progress is seen, a change in SLP may be necessary.
10. Repetition is key in true apraxia...
Hatzlacha Rabba!! May your child be talking clearly soon.

1. That's true. 2. Not all speech therapists know how to work with apraxic of speech. 2 Brooklyn organizations told me that it's requires a special technique that not all slps learn. 3/4. It is the only method that is truly effective. I know your an slp and you know alt but I've been around the block and have done excessive amt of research on apraxia of speech. I spoke to a dz of therapists including those who do evals and are teaching to recruit other slps so I know ALOT!
5. That's also true. My son was diagnosed through striveright and by process of elimination and hearing tests he got this diagnosis.
Back to top

tweety1




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 9:28 am
amother wrote:
I would also like to get referrals of therapists experienced in treating apraxia. I am in flatbush. If anyone has a good recommendation, please let me know and I will pm you for details.

Pm me plz. I can help you
Back to top

amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Fri, Aug 28 2015, 1:04 pm
tweety1 wrote:
1. That's true. 2. Not all speech therapists know how to work with apraxic of speech. 2 Brooklyn organizations told me that it's requires a special technique that not all slps learn. 3/4. It is the oNH ,bnly method that is truly effective. I know your an slp and you know alt but I've been around the block and have done excessive amt of research on apraxia of speech. I spoke to a dz of therapists including those who do evals and are teaching to recruit other slps so I know ALOT!
5. That's also true. My son was diagnosed through striveright and by process of elimination and hearing tests he got this diagnosis.


Therapists who do evals and recruit do not have as much experience treating disorders. PROMPT is a method that requires certification to be able to call oneself certified. I worked under someone who has a PHD with her doctoral training in oral motor and PROMPT. I have seen it done right. I know other methods also work...Kaufman... Linda Mood Bell (LIPS)... I do not want OP to place all her eggs in 1 basket. Just because someone is PROMPT certified does not mean they are good, have the full training or know that he/she knows how to properly fade out the prompts.
The proof is in the pudding...
Back to top

amother
Lavender


 

Post Sat, Aug 29 2015, 7:05 pm
I am also an SLP who has some experience working with oral apraxia. I personally have had success using the Moving Across Syllables program. PROMT is also a great option to try.
Back to top

miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Sep 19 2015, 8:32 pm
I am a parent of an "Apraxic" child. I put it in quotes not because I don't believe it but my son too was diagnosed by a speech therapist--who got his speech upped to 4x30 weekly in NY (which is practically unheard of, even my speech therapist couldn't believe it that it got approved). He got diagnosed at around 22 months. When he got the 4x30 we had it split between 2 therapists--neither were specifically PROMPT trained, but he did make a lot of progress. He also got OT. All 3 of those therapists concurred with the diagnosis. When he aged out of EI he went to a regular preschool with related services and did OK with speech 3x30 and OT 3x30 and SEIT. Then I got him approved for a special ed program that had a PROMPT therapist and in that time I was doing my research--I'm a Special Ed teacher myself and I was trying to figure out is it Apraxia? Dysarthria? Dyspraxia (which according to my research are possibly different things)? In all the speech therapists that he's had, no one has denied that diagnosis (but he does have weak oral-tone)--but his most recent therapist (who did PROMPT with him) said, "Who cares? he's making super progress". It has been suggested that I take him for a neurological eval to confirm, but at this point, he just transitioned to CSE and no one has questioned the diagnosis, and that diagnosis allows him to receive LOTS more services than regular "Speech and Language Impared". So in my opinion, if you have that diagnosis--don't knock it! My research also indicated that its hard to pinpoint what it is and what it isn't, as a Special Ed teacher I've discussed this with a number of speech therapists and haven't gotten great answers either way (other than them thinking the child was autistic. Rolling Eyes).

Going back to my son, he's going to be 5 soon, and he's doing GREAT! He went from barely able to say 5 words and horrible imitation skills, to now his speech is mainly missing a few sounds. He does "rehearse" a lot and not great at spontaneous speech, but he's come a LONG way in 3 years.

In EI you can't request a PROMPT therapist, unless you know a therapist who does it. Try to look into CPSE programs that have PROMPT therapists--and insist on getting your child into a CPSE program where you can get a TEAM to work with your child (vs regular preschool with related services b/c its not a "cognitive delay"). I think if your child has that "apraxia" diagnosis, the SLP will be more likely to do oral motor exercises--many SLPs seem to focus more on the "language" aspect than the "speech"

Also, it could all be "snake oil", but in my opinion I saw a difference in my son once I started giving him fish oil vitamins. It could've been a coincidence, but I noticed him really snowball in his progress since I started it--I saw it recommended somewhere, and I was SO desperate for him to start talking already that I tried it.
Any more questions, PM me.
Back to top

cuties' mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 20 2015, 5:52 am
My almost 9-year-old has global apraxia. He didn't learn to eat solids until he was 19 months as he had to be taught how to bite, chew and swallow. He started crawling at 22 months and walking at 24 months. He started talking shortly before his third birthday and it was very unclear. He is now in fourth grade, where he is the youngest in his class and still doing well. He gets speech therapy five times a week since his speech is still not 100% clear, OT twice a week due to his poor motor planning, PT 4 times a week since motor tasks are very hard for him to learn and counseling twice a week to keep up his self esteem. Obviously, he had a severe case. While at one point ds did get prompt therapy, he also responded really well to the Kaufman approach. There's another approach his speech therapist uses. I'm not sure what it's called, but she has a fake mouth with a tongue and teeth and shows ds the exact position for whatever sound he's working on.
Back to top

amother
Cyan


 

Post Sun, Sep 20 2015, 7:14 am
(not op here)
Cuties mom (or anyone in this situation)- how did you deal with your son not talking till he is three? My son is 2.5 years old and not talking. Its so so hard for me to watch how frustrated he is. He comes home from playgroup trying to tell me with signals what he did that day and a majority of the time I still cant understand what hes trying to tell me. sometimes he tantrums from frustration. I feel so bad for him and would also love to know what hes thinking and ect.... but he cant tell me. Its so hard for me to take this.
Back to top

cuties' mom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Sep 20 2015, 7:18 am
Ds used picture cards to communicate until he learned to talk. The first time he did it, he brought me a book and pointed to a picture of a cup. I said, "That's a cup." He did the sign for I want. (His therapist tried teaching him signs, but because his apraxia is global, signing was almost as hard as talking.) I gave him a drink and took pictures of anything he could possibly want, which I hung on a wall so he could point to what he wants. After a while, his speech therapist bought an expensive set of picture cards with more objects than I would think of taking pictures of, and ds used those pictures to talk.
Back to top

amother
Silver


 

Post Sun, Sep 20 2015, 7:55 am
Dd got a huge increase in st and ot! It's hard work and very stressful on me but I hope to see results soon, even if it's slow something is better than nothing.
She does not sign, although some therapists tried to teach her they were no consistent. She has 4 or 5 monosyllable words and she does alot of pointing to tell me what she wants. There is plenty of kvetching and tantruming too.
Picture cards are a great idea. I am going to get busy with the printer!
Back to top

amother
Cyan


 

Post Sun, Sep 20 2015, 11:46 am
Thanks Cuties mom for the idea. I googled and found some sites with pictures for this type of thing. They looks good. Will see how it goes. I asked my sons st about this and she said there are also some apps for this , I wonder if I should try one of those? This way I can take it everywhere? Or maybe it will be much clearer to him to have pictures that are printed out? guess I can try both and see.

My son does know the signs of some basic words (about 10-15) which is a big help, but not nearly enough to really tell me much, just really basic words. I like signs because we can use them anywhere, and I don't have to carry anything with me, the downside is that only I understand them, plus it takes a lot of reviewing - I can teach him probably like 3-4 signs a week, but then will have to make sure we always use them so he doesn't forget them. With pictures he would be able to tell anyone what he wants, plus I would guess its probably easier to learn.
Back to top

cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Sep 21 2015, 4:02 pm
amother cyan:

If you're open to it there are apps for the iPad or Android that act as a communication board.
There's PECS:
http://autism.about.com/od/tre.....S.htm

There are also communication devices:
For example:
https://www.enablemart.com/sup.....cator

Or even a "talking" photo album (that's what we used) where you put the pictures in the album and record the object/person's name.

I don't know where you're located but has your child been evaluated for early intervention? Even if he doesn't qualify the evaluators usually have helpful suggestions...
Back to top
Page 1 of 2 1  2  Next Recent Topics




Post new topic   Reply to topic    Forum -> Children's Health

Related Topics Replies Last Post
Apraxia and Gemara
by miami85
11 Wed, Sep 20 2023, 11:21 am View last post