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Speech delay help
My son was diagnosed with a severe speech delay back in July and we are getting him help through EI, but I am beginning to wonder about apraxia? He has had two weeks 'off' from speech, and I plan to ask his therapist about this next week, but what distinguishes a speech delay from apraxia? Also, I am constantly searching for information and ways to help Krew... any good blogs on speech delays? Just need some new ideas and things to try. Thanks!!
ETA: And I worry sometimes that we need to look for a new therapist. K loves her and she plays with him and 'says words' but thats about it. I feel like we work more with him than she does... What kinds of things should I be looking at?
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Re: Speech delay help
My daughter has a severe expressive language delay as well. She started babbling at 13 1/2 months, and now at 16 months she has zero words. I have this book from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-Together-Activities-Development/dp/0981783058/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1293686066&sr=8-10
The book has lots of ideas for activities to promote language development, but honestly I haven't tried any of them. I just label things a lot, I repeat words all the time, and I try to simplify my language.
I'm also thinking about getting this book, but it's expensive:
https://www.amazon.com/Takes-Two-Talk-Practical-Children/dp/0921145195/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293686192&sr=1-1
Apraxia is a speech disorder. I believe one of the characteristics of apraxia is that the kid's receptive language is much better than his expressive language.
Just out of curiosity, where in NC are you?
I am in the same place right now wondering if we need to go with a private speech therapist who knows more about apraxia since that's what we suspect may be going on with Callum. But we do really like our current SLP through EI so I think we may just wait a few more months since he's probably still too young to get an official diagnosis.
The SLPs who have seen Callum think it may be apraxia because he never has really babbled (really only uses the "da" sound), has a big gap in his is expressive and receptive (when evaluated at 18 months his expressive was in the 6-9 month range but his receptive was more like 20-22 months), he has one word now (up), he's said random words in the past but they quickly disappear, and he doesn't attempt to repeat any sorts of sounds or words.
You might check out the apraxia kids website which has some more info that might help. I think at this point our plan is to talk to our pedi at our two year check up next week about a possible referral to a developmental pedi in the coming months and then go from there.
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Count me as an SLP who also really likes this book
There is a parent eduation program offered through the organization that publishes this book (the Hanen Centre) that is also called It Takes Two To Talk and its an awesome program-I've referred multiple families to it (the outpatient center I work for offers it, as do other organizations in my area) and have gotten nothing but positive feedbak from all of them. If you'd like to look into it, I'd suggest asking your SLP or EI coordinator if its offered anywhere in your area.
Re: Apraxia-by all means, bring up your concerns with your SLP but be prepared that even if they are familiar with it (some aren't) they may not be willing to give that formal diagnosis at this point. Personally, I won't give a child that I'm working with an apraxia diagnosis until after age three and even then its after multiple treatment sessions with the child-there are so many characteristics of apraxia that are also common in young children with a pure expressive language delay that in my experience it's extremely difficult to make a definitive diagnosis before age 3. That being said, I will not hesitate to keep the possibility of apraxia in mind and incorporate techniques into the therapy I do with a child that I would use for a child with apraxia, along with other techniques, to see what works best for that child. So like I said, don't hesitate to bring it up if it's a concern but don't get too worried if your SLP is hesitant to make that diagnosis at that point.
If you haven't yet, check out https://www.apraxia-kids.org -its a great resource on apraxia for parents and can give you more information. Unless you found that already, in which case don't mind me
Thanks so much for the feedback, ideas, and support! Its nice to not hear "he's just a boy" when voicing my concerns. The book looks like it has some great ideas so that will be purchased and I plan to talk to our slp this week about the program and apraxia. Thanks again!!
ncbelle - I'm in Asheville