Does your child have Apraxia of Speech?

Question

I would like to know who else has children with Apraxia of Speech as we do and your experiences.

Answer 1

My son had mild to moderate apraxia in addition to a diagnosis of high functioning autism. We have now done 2 yr and 1 month of speech therapy to get his speech to an "acceptable" level. As we started the mouth exercises and oral motor planning activities with him he greatly improved. Technically he no longer has an apraxia diagnosis just a few oral motor planning issues.
If you haven't started speech yet it needs to be started ASAP. One approach that worked well for our son was the Kauffman-Praxis Series. It is a series of cards that have up to 5 breakdowns of a word and the goal is as you move through a set to get from the smallest sound to the word.

Answer 2

Here some online supports that may help !


Apraxia Support Groups and Parent Networks:
There are local apraxia support groups for families and caregivers of children with apraxia in many states. It can be comforting and empowering to know that you are not alone and that you can both give and receive help. If you do not see a group listed in your area on this page, check the Message Boards for the latest groups that have formed.https://www.kintera.org/site/

[e-mail]

Apraxia Kids
A resource, discussion list for families of children with developmental apraxia of speech (verbal dyspraxia) and the professionals
that care about them.
To Join: In the body of your email, send the message, SUBSCRIBE APRAXIA-KIDS to [e-mail] join online
Listowners: Sharon Gretz

http://www.cherab.org/news/indexnews.html

Answer 3

My 4 yr old daughter had Apraxia of Speech, what a long strange journey it has been.
At 15 mo. her receptive skills were evaluated to be at least 21 mos, but her expressive only 6 mos. Heart wrenching.
After several years of therapy, and work at home she now has articulation skill of an almost 5 yr old (she barely turned 4, just 2 weeks ago), her receptive and expressive abilities are scoring well above average. Thank goodness.
I was forewarned that she will probably have regression due to increasing complexities of language as she get older and father in school.

Answer 4

Our youngest is severely autistic and non-verbal (due to apraxia of speech). It takes a great speech pathologist and a lot of patience and work to see progress. Progress can be slow, but we celebrate every milestone. He signs some (which was slow coming because of motor skill delays).

Something that took me by surprise was that when he did start to finally sign, he signs backwards (to himself) so he has to be taught sign hand-over-hand. We were told this is also from the motor-planning issues from the apraxia.

Answer 5

WOW! First of all, I want to thank YOU for asking this question. My daughter is 5 and has always had a speech problem. I had never even heard the term, the doctors could never find anything wrong (including "the muscles around the mouth not developing" like the first person said) and never even mentioned it. She is a year or two AHEAD in her understanding, but still unable to communicate.

I went to the NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders) website and it was like it was describing her!

In my experience (and it's mentioned on the website)... basic sign language was helping her quite a bit. She would still try to say the word, but because I was also learning with her, it helped me to understand what she was trying to say, and therefore helped her not to become so frustrated when she couldn't get her point across.

I don't know how old your child or children are but feel to contact me if you like. This is really going to help me get on the right track as far as getting her help now. Thank you :)

Answer 6

Speech people often diagnose kids with apraxia. It just means the muscles around the mouth are not moving well enough/appropriatley and are hindering speech development. It's too bad they feel they HAVE to label a kid with any REASON for having speech problems. It would be better to just say speech delays and not give a reason, but parents and insurance companies want a name for the problem. Regardless, many kids with speech probs are given this label. They respond very well to speech therapy and that is what is important. Take the therapy....follow the therapists advice and don't sweat the label.