Apraxia - Motor Speech Disorder

E.,
My little boy was 2, had not uttered a single sound other than a few crys (he was the best baby anyone could ever imagine!)and we were more than a little worried. I finally went to my ped. who sent me to a speech/hearing place to have him tested. He was diagnosed with apraxia and from there our lives were turned upside down. Because insurance doesn't cover speech, I called my School district and they have an amazing program, Early Intervention, which saved our little boy. After months of him screaming because he couldn't communicate with us, they taught me some basic sign language to use with him. He learned about 5 of them within 20 minutes and used them fluently afterwards. He's now 6 and still in speech therapy, through the school, but the results have been amazing. Don't wait, call a specialist or your school district and get some help for your little one. They start helping children at 18 months so even if she is just a "late talker", like most people told us our son probably was, it doesn't hurt to have her tested. If we had waited, oh it scares me to think where he'd be right now! Good luck. Also, I"m a HUGE believer in sign language, start teaching her now because it will help her speech down the road. There are some awesome things out there, but my favorites are the SIGNING TIME series. I think they have a website, not sure.

As stated previously, Denver Options is a good place to start. It is completely free, too. Please check them out if you haven't done so already ###-###-#### http://denveroptions.org/services_earlyintervention.php If you are not in Denver County, they can point you in the right direction. The sooner you get started, the better : )

My oldest son(16) has a speech/language/comprehension disorder, and didn't say one word until about 4 1/2, and that was after years of intense therapy starting at about 2 1/2 and even then he was considered young for treatment, I started out by having his ears checked once that checked out they were able to lead me to the shriners who have a wonderful program for kids with these issues, I was in California at the time but know they have programs all across the country. My son sounded a lot like the Apraxia but his was also mixed up with the fact that his brain just struggles with language and comprehension, his motor skills were fine so that wasn't an issue for him, they explained it to me like this for my son "it's like speaking chinese to someone who only understand english" for him language was in essence gibberish. He to this day still struggles with comprehension & reading that kind of thing but his speech is much improved other then he mumbles when he talks you would never know he couldn't talk complete sentences until about the second grade. It is amazing what they can do with early intervention!

Some of the things you describe fit into a condition called Sensory Processing Disorder/SPD (formerly called Sensory Integration Dysfunction). I have two boys id'd with this with my oldest having dyspraxia, speech delay and motor planning delays. He has been on an IEP since preschool and he has received occupational therapy (at school and privately). It's been a long haul but he is doing much better as a second grader.

For more information on SPD:

http://kidfoundation.org/
http://out-of-sync-child.com/
http://starcenter.us/

While my son doesn't have apraxia, he does have speech delay issues. He will be 4 in May and we noticed around 2 that his speech was not where is should have been. He wasn't talking as much as he should have and when he did talk, it was very hard to understand him. He was having problems with pronouncing words correctly and often left the ends of words off. There are certain sounds that were difficult for him to pronounce also. I was so worried and I talked to his Dr. We had his hearing checked and that was fine.

We found Denver Options and their programs. They help with developmental issues before the age of 3, at which time, they go on to ECE through the public schools. We had him evaluated and he qualified for help. As a result he got a speech therapist come to our home for an hour a week for private therapy. She was so wonderful and helped him so much. She also helped my husband and I learn ways to work with him during the week. This was all at no cost to us.

The other thing that really helped with my son's speech was getting him into a school setting. I am a SAHM but we set him up to go to a preschool/daycare 2 mornings a week last summer. He started another preschool with 5 mornings a week in the fall and both of those have made a big differnce. He HAS to speak clearer and slow down so that the other kids and adults can understand him and his wants. He has also learned some of the language skills from the other kids and his teachers.

With all that being said, the best piece of advice that I can offer is to get help as early as you can. The earlier you start, the better. Talk to her Dr. and get some info. on the ECE program in your area. They can refer you to other agencys that might be able to help you too. Good luck, I hope that you can find some help to get her on her way, I know how worrisome it is.

if your daughter is under age three she can get help through your local early intervention agency for free, if she is over three your local public school is required to help you for free as well. under the IDEA act.if you don't know where your local early intervention agency is , call your local public school and they can probably tell you. also don't rule out autism. my son has a form of autism(aspergers syndrome) he is delayed in his speech along with some other things but he is extremely advanced in many academic areas( he has taught himself to read). not all autistic people are like "Rain Man" in fact most aren't. but seek out early intervention, they will be a huge help to you GL, N.

My son has Sensory Integration dysfunction which affected his speech- he didn't start talking until he was 4 - to where you could understand him. Once we got his diagnosis we put him into Occupational therapy and speech therapy classes..

He is now 11 and is doing amazing. Early intervention is key and getting her around other children for a play time at least once a week would be a good idea too.

Any speech therapist or OT will also be able to help you with techniques in the home that can help too.

Hope that helps!