Other Moms with Kids Who Are Diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech

Hi my name is T. Burns. A mother to 4 little angels. Our son Sean who is now 6 years old was diagnose with Apraxia when he 2 1/2 years old. He had made a wonderful recovery. I will say there is light at the end of the tunnel with this. I had Sean going twice a week with private and then 75 mins in school. He started in EC too and then worked he way into pre-k and now is in K full-day. What I am saying it depends on the child if he/she is willing to work with you. I did alot of flash card that were hand made w/ pictures on it. Sign language was another thing I did with him. It was called Signing time. I dont know where you live, but Kids Can Do, Inc in Mokena, Il is a wonderful place to go. They have worked with Sean since he was 3 years old. The treatment that his SLP did was called Prompt. That has worked again wonderful and now he will be discharged from speech soon. The one thing you do want to keep in mind is always one-on-one therapy only in school and private. Never let the school tell you group will work and it doesnt I tried with Sean. Very important to stress one-on-one. Here is a site you can go and become a member to the group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/windycityapraxia/.

Hi Jenni,
My son was also diagnosed with verbal apraxia around the age of 20 months. He did not talk at all at age three either. When he was a little over three, we were told he may not be able to talk until he was five! We were very upset. So, we bagan to put him in therapy twice a week privatly and sent him to a special ed preschool. I did so much research. I found out that apraxia will not just get better on its own, therapy plays a huge part. We also asked our therapists what we could do at home. We did our little speech routines at home every night. Our son is now five and is definitly talking!! Just recently, others have been able to understand pretty much everything he says. I say stick with the two hours a week, but also find out what you should be doing at home. Hang in there, I know it is so hard to see a three year old barely talking. He will learn, it will just take him much longer. Do not compare him to other kids. I always try to compare my son to how much progress he has made in the last six months. If you need an ear or someone else who has been through what you are going through, please feel free to write back!! I would love to chat!!
Karen

My 3.5yo son is in spec. ed everyday and like your daughter, has a medical reason for his lack of speech. He is getting a lot better, but has been in SLP since 3 months old. He is making so much more progress since beginning school and uses the PECS at home as well as at school which has also helped. He doesnt have too many words that are recognizable by many people other than close family and friends, and he still signs a little bit. Tyler does get speech 3 times a week at school and im not sure about more private speech therapy. I was thinking maybe in the summer start privately since he wont be in school. I would think that 2 hours is enough, but if you are worried about her needing more, ask the ped what she/he thinks. Dont forget that since she is in school, the whole time she is in school, she is technically getting practice with speech just by being around the teachers and other kids.

Jenni
My youngest son did not talk. He did the mama thing but everything else he said was so garbled it was unrecognizable. We had him to the earlybird screening. it was agreed that yes he was behind. They put him into Todd school and he had speech therapy every day. 5x a week. It was a wonderful program. He continued to have it at 4yrs at 5yrs and even thru 2nd grade. He is now 12. Hasn't had it for a long time but his speech is great for the most part. I wish you much luck. You can ask formore speech therapy time if you want. You dont' say where she goes for this but if its at todd as for more. they are great there. Ms Penny was the best teacher we ever had for my son. Be prepared something that sometimes happens and this is what they told me up front. Is that thru the speech therapy times so much effort and time is put into that part of the childs life is that other learning skills sometimes go slower. It was really hard for sam to learn to read. because of the speech thing he couldn't sound out the words properly. so then consequently a lot of the learning is harder. We ended up having to put him into a special one on one reading program in north aurora. He did learn to read but sometimes still pronounces words funny. The word Geography is instead pronounced Geo Graph EE instead. But your daughter willdo fine because she has the greatest advocate behind her and thats a mom who cares. Fight for what she needs and she will be fine. Good luck.
S.

Hi,
I sent my friend your question because her son has speech apraxia and here is her reply-

- my son started speech at 14 months and was diagnosed with apraxia as well- He is now 3 and doing great- He received 3-4 hours a week of speech along with a lot of home activities- A year ago he stared with the school district- he never qualified for an early childhood class, so everything was directly speech- he also received and still does occupational therapy because that is directly linked to speech- he also receives oral motor therapy- A year ago he tested in the severe-profound range for speech and just last week he tested in the mild range- It's a lot of work, but it will pay off- Progress in generally slow, then all of a sudden these huge gains appear- Good luck-- I'm also a special ed. teacher and work very closely with many speech pathologists and occupational thearpists-
Sandra

Hi,
My niece was diagnosed with apraxia 20 years ago and even though she had little help she's doing great. You would never know she had apraxia. She is now a sophmore in collage and is planning on being a teacher. It took time but she was able to overcome it.

Hi Jenni! I am an SLP in a public school district in central IL. Although my 1 speaking child does not have apraxia, I can understand how frustrated and concerned you are. I have worked with a little more than a handful of children with apraxia and it is very frustrating for me as well. I sometimes feel like I am not making much of a difference for my kids who have this particular speech disorder. I do have a few questions though. What exactly do you mean when you say that there is a medical reason behind her diagnosis? Is something coexisting with the apraxia? What is the breakdown of the 2 hrs of therapy. How much is school? HOw much is private? Are either places using a specific apraxia "therapy program"? How experienced with aprxia are the therapists working with your daughter. You might not be able to change the school therapist because they are usually assigned to buildings, but if you private therapy is through a hospital or medical center you might want to see if anyone there specializes or has a special interest in working with apraxia. FYI all speech therapist should be able to manage a client who has apraxia but some may be more or less experienced/interested. Also, if you could attend any local conferences in your area on apraxia, that might be helpful. I would look for one that includes parents as those who should attend. There might be some that are more geared just toward SLP's. Finally, make sure you are following through at home what the therapists are working on. Looking forward to hearing from you! Wishing you & your famiy the best!