Anyone know anything about Apraxia (speech disorder)?

Kathie - posted on 03/15/2011

I had never heard of apraxia. My son has just been diagnosed. He has been in speech since he was 4 and throughout school. He is now in 3rd grade/8yr old. He was diagnosed at Children's hospital in Ann Arbor MI and they are recommending 2-3 times speech therapy ALONG WITH Occupational Therapy. He struggles reading and is at a kindergarden level. Most people can understand him until he is excited or frustrated. The apraxia also effects his other fine motor skills (thats why the occ therapy). They said it will help him progress in things such as tying his shoes (he is working on it now) as well as his speech. Check with your specialist and see if occupational therapy would be right for your child. One thing I have also learned, ask ask ask. There is no dumb question.

Vanessa - posted on 03/15/2011

Good da Anza
My son is 3 and was diagnosed in November with Dyspraxia as well,He is now going to Speech Therapy with Tania Botoulos and is doing well but still has a long way to go. He also needs to go for occupational therapy. He was always been labeled as having autism. We took him to a Neurologist in February 2011 Birgit Schlegal and she advised us that he is definately not autistic. He tries really hard to communicate with us and is learning new words every day. It is so frustrating but we just have to hang in there and do what we can for our children. i am also looking for somewhere to put my son so that he can get the attention that he needs. there is a school in Wynberg but i am not sure what it is called but it costs about R10.000 a month and we cannot afford that. |good luck with your son. you can contact me on vanessa.enslin@pearson.com

Anza - posted on 12/09/2010

My eyes have been filled with tears as I have been reading this page. My son is 4 years old and has been diagnosed with dispraxia. I am in Cape Town, South Africa, and knows no-one else with this disorder. I have been searching on the Internet for information as there's not much about this in South Africa. I am so glad that I've read all your messages. It's just so good to know that there are other mothers and children out there that would understand what we are going through and that's experiencing the same. We were lead to believe that my son had an autism spectrum disorder and he has been treated for this for about a year now. The special needs school he attended did a great job in getting him to sit still at a table and do things like puzzles, drawing, blocks, etc., but now we need to focus on his real impairement which is his language disorder. After a visit to an Occupational Therapist we now know that it has to do with motor planning as well. So he needs Occupational therapy and Speech therapy. There is only 1 school in South Africa - Carel du Toit Centrum - that offers classes (Grade 0 and Grade R) for these children and they dont' have space for the next 2 years. There seems to be such a need... I think I need to start a school and offer the Carel du Toit curriculum. Are there any other mothers out there that has children with dyspraxia between the ages of 3 - 5 years that lives in South Africa? With intence therapy on a daily basis our children will stand a fair chance in life. My son is such a lovely boy with a great sense of humor. He is intelligent and has a lot of potential. I reallly want to give him the best possible help. If anyone knows of a school that can help in the Cape area, please contact me on anza@lodgesinafrica.com - thank you.

Tricia - posted on 08/22/2010

My sons had moderate apraxia and didn't say a word until he was 3 1/2. He is now only slightly delayed in speech at 6. Apraxia is the inability to know how to form certain sounds. It is often associated with motor planning issues.

Sarah - posted on 08/13/2010

For those who have children under 3...early intervention should be able to help you find a good SLP and possibly pay for it. For those with children 3-5/6 years old, contact your local school system and tell them you have a child with a "communication disability" and you want to know what services they qualify for under IDEA. Also contact your local Board of Developmental Disabilities.

My (soon to be) 5 year old was diagnosed with verbal apraxia at 26 months old. At that time he has a 12 word vocabulary. EI paid for 9 months of 2x weekly speech therapy for him. They assisted me with transitioning him to special needs pre-school ( within our public school system). He started there the day after he turned 3. A school bus picks him up and drops him off at the end of the driveway, and he has some speech therapy at school, I do not pay one penny other than the school supplies they ask for at the beginning of the year. The "normal" kids pay $150 a month for this pre-school. In addition, when he qualified for pre-school, he also qualified for 3 years of funding through our local board of developmental disabilities. This pays for additional private speech and several other things.

...the funniest thing? My "disabled" child reads on a first grade level and does simple math! His main issue that got him into school was articulation, and as long as we keep him in therapy, he continues to get better at that.

Dianna - posted on 08/13/2010

My son was born with apraxia, it can be the equivalent of a stroke, in his case his brocha speech center didn't develop. He had all the ear marks of a stroke victim. Drooling, weakness on the right side, etc. My son is 20 now and still has a speech impediment but a lot of that is due to the fact that he won't slow down when he talks.

Linda - posted on 08/13/2010

Our 9 year old daughter has verbal apraxia. She has been in speech therapy since she was 4. She has come a long way, but still has a long way to go. It takes a lot of work and patience, but every little "step" is a mile!

Jennifer - posted on 08/13/2010

My son is 4yrs old .and has bin diagnosed with verbal-dypraxia. he only says a few words (no,go,yes and calls everyone mom) he ahs bin in speech for two years now but not much progress .he uses gestures to communicate with some sign language .everyone seems to understand him with the gestures he uses .but with kids they never know what he wants or needs .so daycare was very hard ,cuz kids gave up because he couldnt tlak back ,and kids would walk away .hes starting school in september and i have bin looking for other mothers to talk to with the same issues .!! my sons dr has told me that there is a percent that my son may not talk at all really only make sounds .he explained it to me as if someone has had a stroke and ex.they cant say "pen" but they say can u pass me that writing utencill . for a mom its hard cuz i havent ever herd my son say mom i love you .even thou i know he does ..my only wish would be for him to talk . where is everyone from ...and does ne one know where there is ne funding or places that help children with jsut this problem i cant seem to find much help for my son in brantford anyone know of places i can go for help ???

Elizabeth - posted on 08/10/2010

my daughter was diagnosed with apaxia at age 3 a neurologist told me they can catch it as early as18 months and they don't like seeing children come in 3-5 years old with this and noone finding out about it till then the bet prognosis is for those children caugt before 3 years o age

Jennifer - posted on 04/15/2010

I saw your posting and thought you might be interested in reading the book "growing girls, the mother of all adventures" by Jeanne Marie Laskas. She adopts a baby from China who ends up having apraxia. My husband picked it out for me at the library and I loved it! I loved her style of writing and it has some pretty funny parts that any Mom can appreciate.

Lisa - posted on 04/03/2010

Hi there! I am a speech-language pathologist who specializes in childhood apraxia of speech. It is highly treatable when you work with an expert! Visit my website for a wealth of information on the subject: www.barontherapy.com. I wish you and your child all the best. If I can be of assistance in answering any specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Lisa Baron, MS, CCC/SLP

Belinda - posted on 04/07/2009

my 4 year old has dyspraxia her speach therapists gave me alot to read on it. its hard work but we just have to be persistant with practising sounds. ask your speach therapist if she has any info she could give you.

Sarah - posted on 04/06/2009

My 3.5 year old son has verbal apraxia. His SLP says he is the most atypical and typical case of Verbal apraxia she has ever seen...he does not drool or have feeding problems, but he has almost no lateral or vertical tongue movement to speak of. He went through a period of really bad stuttering a few months ago, but as quickly as it started, it just disappeared one day.

Basically the easiest way to explain/understand apraxia is to think of a grandparent who has had a stroke. The stroke has damaged thier "speech center" so they have trouble moving thier mouth correctly to form the words, and sometimes they cannot think of the word they want to say. Just because they cannot speak does not mean that they are not smart! My son was so smart, and we just did not know it until he started signing at 2 years old. He signed for basic needs while he was trying to make the speech come. As the words became easier for him, he dropped the signs.

If you send me your e-mail address to my e-mail address at sarahsavon2003@yahoo.com and ask for the apraxia article I will send you a good article as an attachment. I found it when I googled apraxia. It really explains things in a way a parent can understand, tells you ways to help your child, and things to look for once they start regular school. When I read this article I lost all doubt about my son's dx...it was like the article was written about him :)

Jeannie - posted on 04/06/2009

Hi my son his now 17 and he has  apraxia he as been in  speech sence he was 3 yrs old .  he had privite along with at school for 11 yrs  now he just gets it at school .  because  he couldnt take it any more pluse the privite ones and we been threw a few  just didnt know what else to do .  now  i can understand  most of what he say and so can my daughter . but others not as good .  if he his happy  and excited you can for get it he gose so fast   you wont understand any of it .  he as goten some what better over the years . but he as just got his frist  talking device . i not sure how i fill about this . but if it dose help him if he out and not around me as much  then so be it . they did try giving him one  when he was in 2nd grade and i said no he didnt talk much then any way and i  wont him to use his words more then anything .  my son also is  Mentally handicapped .  if its not  that bad they may be more they can do with it to help them like i said my son talk so much better then he did but he will never talk like  we would . the key is to get them to slow down when they talk and it come out  clearer.  good luck to you and please keep us posted  Jeannie

Anna - posted on 04/05/2009

Apraxia and dyspraxia are commonly used terms for the same disorder, and has to do with the child's ability to plan and execute getting his/her muscles to where they need to go. For example, and child with dyspraxia in their hand may have difficulty with fine motor skills. When you ask that child to draw a line from point A to point B, he/she may overshoot or undershoot getting to point B. Apraxia of speech is the same thing, just different muscles. Your child is trying to get all of the muscles for speech to coordinate together to produce words. The message comes from the brain to the muscles and back again at an incredibly fast rate, and the child with apraxia is going to overshoot and undershoot what they are trying to get all the muscles to do. As a result, the child may sound like they have some speech sounds in one word, but not another. It may also sound like the syllables get mixed up, and you may even see your child physically trying to get his tongue/lips in the right position when trying to come up with a word or sound. It is important to know that it is FAR more difficult for a child with apraxia to say or imitate something on command. Lots and lots of repetition in therapy will help "train" the muscle planning to produce the combinations of sounds he needs.



If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know, but someone who can spend some time seeing your child directly will probably give you the best information.

Cherish - posted on 02/16/2009

A-praxia is absence of speech,DYS-praxia is when they have a very hard time speaking.
I know MANY "non-verbal" people, and I have never met someone who has apraxia that speaks "normal" after only 2 years of therapy.
My son is 6.5 and has severe language disorders (and other things).
He uses a springboard to communicate.
What books have you read on apraixa?

Dawn - posted on 02/11/2009

My son also has been diagnosed with speech apraxia. He just turned 3 in January. He has had speech therapy through early intervention in our home since he was 18 months. He has about 20-25 words, some of those are approximations that I know what they are but another person may not. We are currently going to our local children's hospital for therapy 2x a week and he is in a speech and language classroom at our local Midwestern Unit 1 time a week. My biggest frustration is when he hurts or needs something important and he can't tell me. I also think it is so annoying when people ask him a question expecting him to answer them. These are people who are close to the family and know of my sons disorder. I feel for him because with everything in him he would love to answer them and be understood. If anyone has anything that helped make life easier or tips that worked for there child, I would love to hear about it. I have found great information on apraxia-kids.org also.

Thank you!

Nicky - posted on 01/14/2009

hi . my son whos now 11 has speach dyspraxia. it took meny years to get him understandable. he is stil very quietly spoken . now sure what you would like to know but some suggestions to help you are . keep up with tring chewy foods as it helps strenghen he muscles in mouth. yes chewy sweets are a great bribe too. they do come in useful....do keep the pressure up for on going help as if its taken away to soon theres a backward slide.which i was never told about.

try to get the tounge moving and general face musles and pull silly faces , lots of laughing helps he musles in general.

i found that out as my son got older i wish id been told before as it would of been easer.

Cara - posted on 01/13/2009

My son is 3 and hasnt been diagnosed with Apraxia yet, (next month we go) but he is enrolled in early intervention and his speech therapist who cannot "diagnose" said she has been treating him as if he were a child with Apraxia. He definatly has it...I have spent several nights up late researching Apraxia and listening to kids on utube with Apraxia. Bingo! I would say support groups and the internet will teach you so much! Intensive (atleast 3 days a week of speech) early intervention is key and it sounds like you are doing that already. Unfortunatly there's not much out there in books on Apraxia, not even doctors know much about it. Good luck!

Holly - posted on 01/13/2009

My 4 yeaar old son was diagnosed with Apraxia at age 2...received intensive speech therapy for 2.5 years & is now speaking beautifully!  Please let me know if you have any questions I can help with!

Val - posted on 01/13/2009

My daughter was diagnosed with apraxia she is in grade 5 9 years old and is slowly improving she has been in speech since kindergartan it is so frustrating they know what to say it just doent come out proper. I have some information on it if you want more or go to Apraxia kids.com there is some easy to understand information on there.