My almost 4 yo may have apraxia. I have questions.

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Preschoolers

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amother

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 6:01 pm

My almost 4 year old's slp recommended that he be evaluated for a communication device. The evaluator recommended that he get evaluated for speech apraxia. He has some sounds, mainly the first two sounds of simple words (e for eat, wa for want, ha for hat, gee for green). My son is very self directed and has done well with the loaner device, but I do not know how he would be with apraxia therapy. How come his speech therapist does not do the evaluation? Can he be evaluated even though he has so few sounds? Do I get a therapist who specializes in prompt (another mom mentioned that to me) or can his speech therapist in school do it? who pays for it? my insurance or the district?

happyone

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 6:09 pm

I'm sure you ruled this out, but did you have a hearing test done?

amother

Celeste

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 6:18 pm

I am a class teacher, I had success with Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme for a student. We did it 5 times each week.

He now speaks beautifully!

amother

Butterscotch

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 6:22 pm

SLP here. School SLPs are typically spread very thin (many have 50-100 students on their caseloads) and cannot allot time to do the kind of in depth evaluation or intensive individual therapy that will pinpoint the source of your son's severe speech deficits. That's why she's probably recommending that you see an outside therapist through your insurance.
PROMPT is just one of several modalities that are used to treat apraxia. You don't specifically need PROMPT, but ask about the therapist's approach and experience with apraxia.

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 7:12 pm

My toddler has been diagnosed with apraxia. Not all SLPs are familiar with childhood apraxia because it is less common than articulation and language issues. We are getting private coaching in how to do prompt for my child (I have a background in special ed, just not speech) and I'm seeing fast progress

tweety1

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 7:17 pm

Not all evaluators and speech therapists are familiar with aproxia of speech.

SYA

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 7:21 pm

Alonna Bondar is amazing. She specializes in this. She is based in Brooklyn.
We were very happy with her. She really helped my child BH.

amother

Hosta

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 7:44 pm

Hi another SLP chiming in.We are stretched thin, have an enormous caseload and therapy quality in school isnt as great as when its private IMHO.

You need to get a PROMPT certified SLP to help your son.

Speech language pathologists cover such an array of topics- voice, fluency, apraxia, dysphagia... we learn it in grad school but unless youre working in it full time you dont remember anything about it. I work in a school and work mostly with artic and language goals. But my scope of practice includes feeding and doing MBS/FEES. You wish I would know what to do for that!

I have a student on my caseload I suspect is apraxic. I am looking into getting PROMPT certified

amother

Dimgray

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 8:30 pm

Hi- my son was diagnosed with apraxia about a year and a half ago (age 2).

His regular speech therapist (through Early Intervention) did not feel comfortable giving the diagnosis. Her agency found a diagnostic speech therapist (someone who worked with more severe cases on a regular basis) to do the diagnosis. At the time my son had very few sounds so she was able to evaluate based on what he could say (minimal) and how he was able to move his mouth (also minimal). The diagnosis allowed our county to approve more speech therapy.

My son's therapists have used prompt and also the Carrie Ebert method. We have seen tremendous progress, though he is still not 100% talking as much as a kid his age usually can.

I also found the book Becoming Verbal with Childhood Apraxia to be helpful.

amother

Jade

Tue, Dec 06 2022, 10:06 pm

Another SLP here chiming in. PROMPT is not the only treatment method for Apraxia and can be quite costly. DTTC is a highly effective and evidence based treatment approach to childhood apraxia of speech and the training is FREE available on YouTube with Dr Edythe Strand (one of the leading apraxia experts). I think it’s a great idea to have him get a communication device, because his language skills need to continue to be able to grow, even though his speech abilities are not there yet. I recommend checking out DTTC and, as someone else mentioned, Alonna Bondar is a frum apraxia specialist based out of Brooklyn. She has a really informative Instagram page called @bondarspeech that is worth checking out!

amother

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 8:08 am

OP here. thanks for all who responded.who pays for the evaluation ? the district or my insurance? I am in NY.

amother

Dandelion

Wed, Dec 07 2022, 8:28 am

amother OP wrote:

OP here. thanks for all who responded.who pays for the evaluation ? the district or my insurance? I am in NY.

Call the school and ask who to send an evaluation request form to. Alternately you can see if insurance will cover a private evaluation.
Side note, you mentioned he is very self directed. Is he typical socially? How is his eye contact?

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