Verbal Dyspraxia, does any one have any advice to help me to help my daughter?

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, does anyone have children with verbal dyspraxia? My SALT thinks that my daughter might have it. She knows loads of words but very few of them are recognisable if you had no visual clues. She was 9 months before she could sit up, she didn't crawl and 16 months when she walked. She is still not potty trained and bites her tongue by accident usually 2-3 times a day. I wondered if any of this is linked. I don't want it to affect her at school. She's having speech therapy one to one every week and the nursery is being fantastic and so dedicated to helping her. If anyone has any info or advice or ways of easing her frustrashion (and mine!) Please let me know.

type apraxia kids into google (apraxia is the American term for verbal dyspraxia). Then type Nancy Kaufman- I think her website is speechteach

Both excellent resources. Nancy Kaufman is VERY helpful - I ended up emailing her when I got nowhere with the NHS.

I think my DS has verbal dyspraxia, as his speech is highly delayed but also any words he does have are either very badly pronounced or he misses off end consonants (eg he can say mummy perfectly but can't say mum, it comes out "mu"). He doesn't have the physical stuff so much though, but that may be a boy thing. All my tutors advice is to practise his sounds again and again, face to face so she sees what you are doing - "b b b " "g g g" etc etc and try and get her to move her mouth. One thing that has worked FANTASTICALLY for my boy is the Jolly phonics DVD - not the whole thing, but the bonus feature where a lady pronounces each letter, while that letter appears beside her on screen. For some reason he loves it, and has learnt to say and recognise the letters by watching it over and over again. Good luck mummyloveslucy!

Thanks, the jolly phonics DVD sounds great. I'll definatly be buying that one. I am so pleased that she's now going to be geting the help she needs, through speech therapy and nursery. I'm very keen to do my bit at home too. (and I don't just meen puting jolly phonics on for her).