Does anyone have a child with verbal apraxia? Really worried about DS.

[eastendmummy]

DS1 is 2 years and 5 months and has no words, at all. He has fantastic understanding and communicates with pointing and gesturing as well as some sounds but not words. He was diagnosed with glue ear about 3 months ago and had grommets inserted 6 weeks ago.

His speech has not improved at all although his hearing has. He does not copy sounds and seems unable to make many speech sounds.

He has said the odd word when playing but then not been able to repeat it and when encouraged he becomes really shy. We play with him a lot, he loves to sit and read books and is generally a very charming and lovely boy, but it's so hard to spend every day with him when he can't speak! It's been harder since DS2 was born 3 months ago.

A friend who is a speech therapist in the US thinks he may have verbal apraxia and therefore there is a disconnect between his brain and his mouth resulting in the inability to repeat sounds and form words. If this is the case, then he will need intensive therapy and I'm taking him to the doctors on Monday to push for a referral.

I'm so worried about him and about his ability to interact with his peers. It's now really obvious that he's a long way behind and I'm really concerned for the long term prognosis if this is the diagnosis.

Has anyone else had a child with this condition? How has it been treated and what have been the results?

Hi. I'm new to this online chatting business but am desperately looking for help and advice. I believe my son (who will be 4 this coming June) has verbal dyspraxia. A few months ago he could barely say any words. Now he will babble away, but is still pretty much unintelligible to others most of the time. Even those closest to him only understand some bits. His frustration is overwhelming at times. I'm keen to learn more as quickly as possible. I'd love to hear from some other mums. Thanks.

Hi,
I have set up a web page on facebook about verbal dysrpaxia. Also have been going through this for last couple of years, so may have some help for you - feel free to e-mail me. I'm also involved in a review for services for kids with verbal dyspraxia which we need parents to respond to by 25 March - really important to try to get better services as currently there is so little out there and so much needed....

www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_175479645803269&ap=1

DS has speech delay and has been assessed many times by salt and pedeatricians etc many of the questions asked were about his sense of balance, his motor abilities, his ability to chew and eat, his coordination. From the little stuff that I know, children with dyspraxia generally will have coordination and balance issues.

By the way DS had glue ear too, and I am pretty sure that his delay was due to the fact that he didn't hear well for an unkown amount of time.

Hi

I am new on here but I just wanted to let you know that my son has verbal apraxia. At two years old he had only a few words, and we found out that he had fluid in his ears that impaired his hearing. Once that cleared up we expected his speech to increase but it really didn't take off. It was slowly progressing but he left off his end sounds and front sounds. For me when we really suspected it must be something else he was almost 4 and I realized he was unsure where the sounds should go in words. His grammar would be mixed up in sentences as well. I know how stressful this can be. My son is now almost 7 and in Grade 1. We have been doing specialized speech therapy now for awhile and it has made a huge difference for him. We still have a long way to go but he his a happy, social boy. If you do see a speech therapist I would mention apraxia just to see what they think. It is often difficult to diagnose at a young age. Another good site is called apraxia kids.

Very useful post...hope to gear from this mum

I dont know anything about the condition your reffering to but i do know about glue ear. Its runs in my family and my daughter had grommits too. What i wanted to say is that my dad had glue ear when he was younger which caused him to be nearly completely deaf until ge was about 6 or 7 and because of that he couldnt speak either just make noises. Even when he had the op and could hear again it took him a long time to actually start speaking. If your son only had the operation 6 weeks ago then he is only just getting used to hearing words so maybe he is just taking his time learning and it might get better. You should definately get this condition checked out though as that sounds fitting also.

I thought my DS has this, at the same sort of age, but I don't think this is the case now. He has had some issues on general coordination, but it's also resolved in the last year. He's just been a bit slow between 1-3.

Also has had times with glue ear, but not caused failed hearing tests. He suffered and still does with dribbling. He used to say only part words. He has had weekly speech therapy privately and that has helped massively. Also when I looked into things that's help speech apraxia they were mainly unproven. He takes a general multi vitamin with omega etc just for health.

I think it's too early to know if the grommets help, they surely will
, but I would also self refer to get a speech therapy assessment on the NHS. They are pretty useless at providing therapy, but it's a starting point. They may offer you a course to help you help him with his speech ( not life changing but it does help)

My child can repeat a new word or noise after hearing now, it but needs to be exposed to it in context hundreds of times before he can say it without hearing it first. I think some children just take longer. I hate the late talker label, but the brain is a mystery.

I just wanted to say you can have just speech dyspraxia ( apraxia is the American term) without general dyspraxia. But you can have both. Worth checking hearing and eyesight for those that haven't.

My general rambling in my late night post, was to say that it's almost tempting to want to label an issue with a diagnosis, but it's not always the case. I have found the NHS wait and see process annoying, but I do think it's hard to diagnose things very young. I would keep an open mind.

@eastendmummy

DS1 is 2 years and 5 months and has no words, at all. He has fantastic understanding and communicates with pointing and gesturing as well as some sounds but not words. He was diagnosed with glue ear about 3 months ago and had grommets inserted 6 weeks ago.

His speech has not improved at all although his hearing has. He does not copy sounds and seems unable to make many speech sounds.

He has said the odd word when playing but then not been able to repeat it and when encouraged he becomes really shy. We play with him a lot, he loves to sit and read books and is generally a very charming and lovely boy, but it's so hard to spend every day with him when he can't speak! It's been harder since DS2 was born 3 months ago.

A friend who is a speech therapist in the US thinks he may have verbal apraxia and therefore there is a disconnect between his brain and his mouth resulting in the inability to repeat sounds and form words. If this is the case, then he will need intensive therapy and I'm taking him to the doctors on Monday to push for a referral.

I'm so worried about him and about his ability to interact with his peers. It's now really obvious that he's a long way behind and I'm really concerned for the long term prognosis if this is the diagnosis.

Has anyone else had a child with this condition? How has it been treated and what have been the results?

Hi, how's your son doing now? My son will be 3 this month and has very few words (no, ca(r), baba, mama). We are on the waiting list for speech and it looks like he has verbal dyspraxia. He's had an autism assessment, which came back as no autism. He is a very social and happy boy with good receptive language skills. Also, gesturing and imitating (actions only- no verbal imitation) are on point but speech is absent. He doesnt even have many vowels like e, o, u and many consonants are missing. Any suggestions, advice and positive stories will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi aamaa, how is your son now? Has he received any treatment and has his speech improved?

I have a 2.5 year old boy and he can only say exactly these words that you've mentioned. This has been going on for about 8 months with no improvement, he has been currently referred for speech therapy so Its a waiting game at the minute. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.