Ask:
My son, 3, has a speech delay that his speech therapist thinks might be verbal apraxia (she says he is too young to diagnose). Just curious if anyone out there has dealth with this and what you have done.
How have you dealt with the communication barrier with other people and mostly other kids. He loves being around other kids but they don't understand what he is wanting and it breaks my heart.
Would love to know any info or insight. Any good webpages on this?
THanks.
amy
Answer:
My son is 6 now but from the time he was 2 years old I could tell there was something wrong. He is my second child and I remembered my daughter speaking words...a lot of words by two. Everyone told me not to worry...boys are always slower to talk then girls. Well I talked to my pediatrician and she gave me a few number of specialist to call. By the time he was 3 we had a speech therapist and a behavior therapist. My son started to communicate but was hard to understand, he became frustrated when he couldn't tell me things...he began hitting, punching, banding his head...he couldn't express his needs to me and it was upsetting to me. By the time he was 4 he had gone through tons of test and evaluations by specialist. They tested him for ADD, autism, hearing...they just kept telling me to wait and see what happens when he gets to kindergarten, right now they could not really give me any answers...they just said he had a speech delayment for sure. Well, we are now in kindergarten and still doing speech therapy...they ruled out all the other stuff except for hearing. They can't test him until he is 8 to see if he has a audiary processing disorder....this is when a child can not distingish betwwen back round noise and sounds directed at them....they sometimes get distracted and can not fully hear certain sounds. Anyway, we are now doing kindergarten for the second time...because of the speech delayment my son was unable to say his sight words and letters. I was really worried it may be a learning diability but when they started doing math he was great with numbers.
I held him back this year because I did not want him to struggle in first grade. So we are still doing speech therapy and this year I see some improvement finally...people still have a hard time understanding him...I worry about it sometimes but I do notice now when he talks he tries to get things out so fast and he struggles. If I slow him down and tell him to say the words slower he does really well.
I feel for you because it is frustrating at time to deal with this but you may see an improvement over the next few years. But if you get him in with a speech therapist it is a first step. The education/school system will help you with the testing process also.
Good luck
Answer:
My knowledge is more in the autism spectrum/aspergers. Do you have someone who can do a second opinion? It is truly heartbreaking when our children turn up "not normal". Often, especially when I speak w/parents of other special needs kids, I wonder what exactly is normal. It seems everyone has quirks. We are heartbroken/embarrassed not for us, but for the struggles our child will go through. I was reading there are actually hearing tests based on electrodes on the scalp; similar to what they do w/babies. Is your pediatrician involved? Is a second one needed? My boy's pediatrician never thought anything was off with him until his six year checkup. We would be worse off if I hadn't listened to my mother's intuition. I hope you find the answers you are looking for, even if it's not what you want to hear, so you can start getting help at this early age. Good luck to you, and best wishes.
Answer:
My son was diagnosed with a speech delay at 2 1/2 and began recieving speech therapy shortly thereafter. The therapy ended approx 6 months later. Technically, he should have continued with the therapy but because we live in one county and our school district is in another he had to be transferred into the school districts juristiction when he became 3. The nearest speech therapy was to far for me to drive him for the proposed 30 minutes they were going to give him (he had gotten an hour at home under the other system). Needless to say, I stopped the therapy. I felt confident that he would come along on his own (after discussions with his prior therapist and Drs.). He is now 4 1/2 and is able to speak well enough for others to understand him and I believe by the time he starts school next year he will be fully caught up. That being said, if he could have recieved more therapy under better circumstances, I would have continued it, just to help him sooner.
As for him getting along with others, my son never really had a problem with other kids. Some didn't understand him, but he would get right in there and play anyway. He learned a few key phrases that really helped him. He never became aggressive because of his speech difficulty.
Answer:
My 6 yr old was assessed through our school district and strated receiving speech therapy at age 4. He continued with the speech last year in kindergarten and will still receive the services this year in 1st grade. He has improved so much. Everyone can pretty much understand everything he says now!!! My 3 yr old was assessed this past spring and is to start receiving therapy this fall. He is extrememly hard to understand (even for me, his mother) and I think this will be much more involved than my other ds. Only thing is that our speech therapist left the district this summer and I am so bummed!! The school has been unable to find someone else, but they assure me that he will receive services. They may have the therapist fromt the elementary cover this also (though it would be alot for her!) or they my contract with a local hospital to provide services.
At any rate, if your child qualifies, your local school district is obligated to provide speech serviced for all children in the district. Your child will be classified as "special needs" based on the speech and an individualized educational plan (IEP) should be made out, clearly stating the problem, the goals and the plan for meeting these goals.
Answer:
I don't think that three is too young at all - you need to get him evaluated and seen immediately. I don't believe that the early childhood program is always the best. No offense to those who work there, use them - whatever. In my experience, they were not very good. Their hearing test consisted of a woman whispering behind my son's head to see if he turned his head. Of course he did- there was someone whispering behind him.
We are fortunate to have an excellent children's hospital and I had the best luck of getting the head of outpatient speech therapy to evaluate him. After meeting with two ENT's, two different hearing tests and several tympanograms, there was no doubt in my mind that he had a definate hearing problem - which accounted for why he couldn't speak. The ENT we have stayed with told me that he was hearing sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher and feeling the sound vibration, which was why he did turn when we spoke, etc. that early childhood intervention said that proved he didn't have a hearing problem. We ended up having surgery for him (tough decision...another story) and the change in this child was remarkable. I really get upset when I think that we possibly could have fixed it sooner. The good feeling is that we worked for our son to get this problem taken care of. Let me tell you - it wasn't easy. We fought insurance all the way. Even our ped (at the time) said "boys talk later," "give it time." The speech therapist said that this is a HUGE problem (your ped doesn't have any training in speech therapy!!!) and it is a proven fact with most hearing/speech problems - the earlier you start, the better the results.
You know what's best for your child - but you will have to work hard to get the results you want. Keep going - it will be worth it.
Answer:
My 4 yo has a speech problem too. He was in speech last year through the school and will be for the next 2 years. It has helped a lot. If hearing has not been checked I would do that first. When my son was 2.5 we brought him to the doctor and got a referral for an ENT and had a hearing evaluation. It was not it in his case but was worthwhile just to verify it. Good luck.
For other kids knowing what he is saying could you arrange play dates with other kids at your house and interpret what he is saying. If he says he wants to play cars maybe you could say "Oh you want to play cars, good idea". After a few times the others should pick up key words. It seems other kids understand my son better than adults do.
Answer:
Three is not too young. Our daughter has verbal apraxia. She has made tremendous progress with the correct diagnosis and treatment. If your therapist thinks your child has apraxia but doesn't think she can do the testing - she can still treat your child as if she does have apraxia. I would also try to get an evaluation from a developmental pediatrician.
There are some great websites on the internet... I would go to google and type in verbal apraxia or developmental dyspraxia.
Good luck.
Answer:
Thank you all so much. Y son has been getting speech (through the county) since he was 2 and we are now waiting on everything to get started with the school. We also have an appointment with a developmental pediatrician (we've been waiting 6 months ) in October.
This let's me know that we are on the right track. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and support.
amy