My son has verbal dyspraxia, worried about the future

[lingling]

My son is 3.5 and the SALT thinks he has verbal dyspraxia, his speech is very, very hard to understand and he gets so frustrated when he is unable to make himself understood..he screams with frustration which makes it even harder for me to understand him...sometimes I end up in tears as well. He is getting SALT now but sometimes he is not cooperative. I am having sleepless nights worrying about the future, he is supposed to be starting school next september and I just can't see how he will be at all ready! I've also got to decide on a school for him by December, but he's going to need extra help...how on earth do I decide which school will be best for him? I know that some schools are more understanding/better with children with sn. I would really welcome any advice / experience anyone has.

[Jimjams]

Is the SALT using the Nuffield system with him? Have you been taught to do it as well. The best outlook for verbal dyspraxia is frequent SALT (like every day). You won't get that on the NHS so its important that you do it yourself.

Another good system is Nancy kaufman's here We bought the first set of cards and ds2 loved them. He would bring them to me to do. She recently ran a few workshops in the UK. Hopefully she'll be back sometime as they were really good. I did contact her for advice by email about a year before her workshop and found her very helpful.

Also have a look at apraxia kids as well- lots of good advice on there.

My 2 year old son was diagnosed with a speech disorder probable verbal dyspraxia a while ago although we haven't managed to get near the NHS yet (been waiting a year) and when we do I suspect we'll only see a community therapist. HOwever he has made very good progress (he's 3 in January). His speech is still very unclear although I'm not completely convinced he has dyspraxia.

oral-motor activities are important too - have you been given any of those to do?

[Jimjams]

As for schools just visit them and talk to the head and senco and see how you get on. You could ring your local parent partnership as well for local advice.

[coppertop]

Youmight be able to get some local advice about schools from the Early Years Inclusion Service in your area. (Should be able to find the contact details by googling). Do you have a portage worker? If not, portage can be really useful when it comes to giving practical help and advice.

[slightlymad]

Hello!!

My son is 4.5 and was diagnosed with severe verbal and oral dyspraxia at the Nuffield hospital just before his 3rd birthday.
Like you - I agonised over schooling. He was completely unintelligible more or less up until about age 4 - but since than has really made huge improvements. Obviously he still has problems - but we can now clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel.
My DS followed the Nuffield programme for a while, before the SALT started using an African system with him ? that was when things really took off. The African system really works for him.
He is in mainstream school, has a statement of special educational needs and has a learning Support Assistant for 1:1 support 18.5 hours a week. He goes out of school once a week for his session with a speech therapist (and like your son - is often not cooperative - especially if he thinks the exersises are too hard). The support assistant also goes to SALT with him every week so that she knows exactly where we are with therapy and can implement the correct speech exercises with him at school on a daily basis. She also does oro-motor exercises with him too ? and he loves doing those!! Unfortunately she has taught him to poke out his tongue!!! ? which was wonderful to see the first few times ? we were sooo proud!!! Hahahaha ? not so wonderful when it?s a checkout assistant being kind to him and all he does is poke out his tongue!! Hahaha!
Ask your speech therapist about starting to get the ball rolling for statementing. It?s a long process so the earlier the better!! Hopefully if you start now ? you?ll be able to get all the support your son needs in place for when he starts school. That way he?ll get off to the best possible start!
I printed off loads and loads of information sheets for the teachers, and made sure they got them before ds ever went near the school. The teachers were really grateful as they hadn?t had a child with the same problems in the class before.
I worried loads that ds wouldn?t fit into mainstream school ? and whilst he does have his difficulties (he has physical limitations as well as the speech difficulties) ? the kids accept him for who he his ? and on the whole, he?s got on really well there.
I can also empathise with you on your sons frustration. Ds used to have terrible tantrums if I didn?t understand him on his first attempt. We did learn some sign language (makaton) which helped to ease some of it ? but he just wanted to talk ? so a lot of the time refused to use the signs! Nowadays, if I don?t understand him straight off, he just goes quiet and says ?secret now? and won?t say it again.
Anyway - I've gone on long enough! I hope this has helped you in some way?

[lingling]

Thank you very much for your advice.We're very lucky because he is getting SALT, nearly every day, because he goes to an ICAN nursery which is really good and he is very happy, although the SALT says that he doesn't always cooperate. She told me to-day when I went to pick him up that she would try to refer him to the Nuffield centre for dyspraxia for an assessment and hopefully more therapy tailored to his specific requirements. I had not heard of this place before so Jimjams its interesting that you mention it in your post. I haven't had any involvement with portage because it is only recently that his problems have started to be recognised by the 'authorities' although I have been banging on about his speech and language problems for about 18 months and he didn't walk until he was 19 months (don't know if thats connected)Thanks again for your help, I want to learn as much as I can about his difficulties so that I can be more effective in trying to help him. Does anyone know what can cause dyspraxia? I'm dreardind dealing with schools...its bad enough with my older children who don't have sn.IMO communication between school and home is really poor and they tend to 'spring things on you' at parents evening and all the time you are thinking... why didn't I know about this sooner! Sorry to ramble on

[heartinthecountry]

I know this if a bit off topic but subject reminded me that I was horrified to hear Michael Morpego (sp?) on Jeremy Vine the other day describing dyspraxia as 'mostly lack of concentration'.

I think he was put on the spot, JV asked him what dyspraxia was and I guess he didn't really know and just kind of mumbled the above...

[jojo38]

Just to give you {{{HUGS}}} lingling. This must have been a shock for you all. Give yourself time for the feelings to even themselves out. I haven't had such an experience but know how baffling it can seem when you have just had a dx. Once those feelings even themselves, you can then spend time understanding the condition and start to move forward. A tough start but you will become stronger. You will find a lot of your answers will be answered by yourself as you get stronger. I do wish you the best of luck and send huge hugs.

heartinthecountry.... I wish I had seen that programme... what a terd!! Just goes to show how ignorantly stupid even these people show themselves to be. Cornered or not, he should have said that he didn't have the knowledge to comment. urgh these people. (sorry)

[jojo38]

not seen, heard ... sorry, very tired. Obviously JV is on Radio.... derrrr... silly me.