Remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned I had a nagging concern that Peanut may have verbal apraxia? I was sure I was just being paranoid, but I mentioned it to her teacher before school started just to be on the safe side. Her teacher, however, did not give me the response I wanted. Instead of saying, “Oh no, I’m sure it’s not that, she’s just a busy little thing and stubborn as all get out.” she said, “Yes, it might be that since her receptive language is so good.” As much as I was not thrilled to hear this response, the earlier it is diagnosed and addressed, the better it will be for Peanut.
Since speech is such a big issue for Peanut (and many children with Down syndrome) I thought I would spend a couple weeks exploring speech and apraxia. If you are struggling with your child’s speech as well, maybe we can help each other out, if in no other way but to support each other in this journey of trying to talk to our children. If you don’t have a child with Down syndrome or speech issues, perhaps you will learn a little more about the struggles our little ones have to deal with in order to just have a simple conversation with you.
Verbal apraxia is a condition where a person has difficulty making the proper movements with their mouth and tongue to form speech. There is no one characteristic that points to apraxia, but a combination of certain symptoms lead to the diagnosis. According to Libby Kumin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, children with Down syndrome have not been diagnosed with apraxia in the past because their lack of speech is attributed to other common characteristics like low muscle tone or feeding problems. I have explained before the dynamics of the mouth in a person with Down syndrome. You can go here to read about it.
I hope to have a definitive answer regarding Peanut in the next couple of weeks. Until then, if anyone is dealing with this, I hope you will share what you know. In two weeks I will discuss some of the common characteristics and things you can do at home to help your child. Remember next week is Ability Tuesday!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Childhood Verbal Apraxia
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13 comments:
i really love these posts. i feel like i am getting a mini education with each one.
thanks for that.
I will stay tuned to your blog...waiting for updates. My son, 20 months who also has Down syndrome, is having his 1st speech evaluation next week. I am entering the stage where speech and oral motor exercises are at the forefront of our conversations around here, it is so nice to charter these waters with others who are going through the same thing. Thanks for posting about this.
I've never heard of Apraxia...So I'm assuming Rylie doesn't have it???? Her V's sound like B's and her L's sound like W's. She does really good at repeating words and talks in 3-4 word sentences. In between her sentences, she uses jargon(still!)
She definately needs a lot of work in the speech area, but no therapist ever mention apraxia. I'll have to read up on it.
I'll be following as the story unfolds - Peanut is lucky to have a mom that researches and is so in tune to her.
I agree with mamarazzi. You are a great educator. I look forward to hearing more and hoping that Peanut is just stubborn.
We just realized that Micah probably has this as well. His speech therapist says you can't "therapize" for it until they can at least say their long vowels and therapy is very intense. The diagnosis didn't help much at this point but at least we know now. I'm still wondering if there's anything ELSE going on. We're trying to get him to a few more specialists for more extensive studies. (Because the team of specialists he has now apparently isn't enough.)
Hi Deb,
Catching up with you a little bit. Good luck to you (and the others) with this. Though speech hasn't been an issue with any of my kids... everyone's got somethin', I always say.
And off the subject...
Those kitchen shots are sooooo why I'm "hopelessly devoted to you!" I put an organizer system in place this week - an attempt to rid my cooking counter of schoolworkX4. I'll let you know if it was a feeble attempt.
Also thanks for the other links to the other blogs. I will check it out when I have more time.
Bye for now. :)
Whether Apraxia or no Apraxia, I hope she gets the help she needs.
Thanks for the Abilty Tues reminder. I'll have to start thinking.
Hi Debbie,
That's what I love about reading your blog. I learn about subjects I would have not known about otherwise.
I wasn't aware that children with Ds have verbal aprazia.
I've always suspected that Kayla has apraxia. When she was talking she would be able to say a word sometimes, but not others. Her Early Intervention speech therapist even suggested it. Unfortunately, she lost all her speech by preschool and that speech therapist says they can't diagnose apraxia without existing speech. Sigh.
I hope she gets help on this My speech teacher taught I might be aprexic but she is not so great. Deb I would highly recommend signing time to help her tell y what she wants.
Good luck to you! We are also waiting right now for the official diagnosis from my son's speech therapist.
He doesn't have down syndrome, but he's always been behind when it comes to speech.
Feel free to check out my blog to get the whole story. I plan on posting about our jounrey tonight.
Basically - some key symptoms Cooper showed were thinkgs like
-not being able to blow bubbles.
-slurred speech and not being able to repeat longer sentences.
hope that helps and best of luck! what cute kiddos you have!
oh yeah - one other thing. google "pro-efa fish oil." we are thinking about trying it to see if it helps. what's wrong with vitamins right? apparently, parents of kids with apraxis swear by it.
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