Child with Apraxia

My son was dx with all of these at 2 1/2 years old. PLEASE go to www.apraxia-kids.org and start reading! Join the list-serve and post your questions there. We also have a Michigan Parents Of Apraxic Children support group that just met yesterday at a play cafe in Howell for 3 hours to let our kids play together. This also gives the parents a chance to ask each other questions and help one another. My son is 5 now and is mostly resolved and speaking great, but I love to talk with other parents and show them that with hard work this can be overcome.
I have an apraxia video and a couple of books if you would like to borrow them. I am sorry this so so scattered, but I only have a minute but just HAD to respond to your post:-)
Please email me at ____@____.com and I can provide more info and find out where you are. I am in Ypsilanti Township and Lincoln school district.
Talk more soon!
J.

Hi K.,
Hang in there...you really need to get the opinion of your daughters pediatrition. He/she can point you in the right direction. I wouldn't take the schools word for it. If you google sensory integration , there are many, many links available. The easiest for me to understand was www.kid-power.org/sid.html Also, I would highly recommend reading Jenny McCarthy's book Louder than Words. This book is about Autism, but very insightful and full of information about our precious little ones. I just bought it Tuesday. It's on sale at Border's for about $16.00. You see, I'm going through the same thing actually. My son is seven and didn't start having difficulties untill he was in the second half of Kindergarten. We've been through all kinds of evaluations, tests, opinions etc. And so far, I have nothing difinitive (sp). Just remember, no one knows your children better than you. I know you'll do an excellent job making good decisions. Take Care.
J.

I wanted to add that the abilities center is excellent
http://www.abilitiescenter.com/classes.htm

My son was also diagnosed as having oral-motor apraxia, and we did speech therapy with the School district for about 3 years. However, we also paid for additional speech therapy.

I don' recommend that you read all that you can about apraxia - because it will scare you & because you can't classify your child as to the severity, etc. In my case - we were lucky, when my son was first diagnosed (at 20 months), he didn't speak at all. After several months of therapy, we finally got him to say his first word - "mama". Now, 3 years later, he is speaking at his age level.

I recommend that you contact 1-800-Earlyon (Early on of MI is a proactive early intervention service). They can provide you with some information, including a family IEP (which is very similar to what the school district did) - but this will enable you to ask for some money. If I recall correctly, I recieved about $200 from Early On - which didn't nearly cover everything, but it helped.

As for the oral motor apraxia - the best thing to help with this is REPETITION! REPETITION! REPETITION! Also, have your child watch your mouth to see the movements. Additionally, to help your child communicate with you sooner than speech will allow - use some basic sign language (drink, eat, potty, etc.)

Good Luck.