Verbal Dyspraxia

[HayleyK]

Just been told our boy (2 years old) has verbal/oral dyspraxia - has anyone else had experience of this? Is there a good UK website for this? Have found a US one, but would love one which had some advice about UK school system, support etc.
Thanks loads!

My DS (4yrs) was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia in May (he also has dyspraxia). He was in Nursery (which is attached to the school) when he was diagnosed and was put straight on to school action plus. A child is put on school action if the school recognises that the child needs extra help and school action plus if outside agencies such as speech therapists are involved, in both cases the child will have an individual education plan.
This link explains what that is in detail:

www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/i/individualeducationplan/

The next step is a statement of special educational needs. (don't know much about them, sorry!)

DS has speech therapy with SALT every 2 weeks, but we do 45 mins speech therapy at home with him every day. At school he has 3 sessions a week with the senco assisstant which are one and one and he also has a group therapy session twice a week. It is a mainstream school that he goes to, I think this is more than the average school provides but I don't know that for sure.

Unfortunately I don't know of any uk websites for verbal dyspraxia.

Hope this helps

try here

Hi, there is a UK website but it isn't very in-depth - www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk.

My son is 2 and has recently been diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia, It has helped to speak to other parents whose kids have had similar problems and all seem to have coped well with support.

I've also spoken to an adult with verbal dyspraxia, he still stammers when stressed and has problems with writing but he has been to Uni and has a good degree.

My main worry is that my son might find it hard to mix when he starts school, I've heard mixed reports about special needs help at out local school - support for conditions like dyslexia is poor, but I think it varies from school to school (and maybe region to region?).

Thanks to all. KayJ, what was the exact age your son got a diagnosis - our paediatrician has diagnosed it, but the SALT says it's too early. Have you started the statementing process? Whereabouts are you based and what are your thoughts in terms of schooling? Thanks loads for reassuring post about the adult with dyspraxia - it does sound like something that resolves I hope, but think we're in for a bit of a journey!

I used to childmind a boy with verbal dyspraxia. At 2 1/2 he said no recognisable words except 'no' and most of his communication was through screeching. Then he had a SALT assessment and also started preschool. The preschool and I were taught signalong (like Makaton) to use with him to help him tell us what he wanted etc. This worked well but tbh we didn't use it for more than about 10 months as by then he was starting to be able to use a few more words. He went to a special language unit attached to MS for reception and year 1 and then in year 2 went back into MS fulltime.

I saw him on his 7th birthday last year and his language was hugely improved. He was still a bit faltering and his tone lacked much variation but other than that he was fine I worried about him when he started preschool as he was completely non-verbal then but he made friends quickly and has never seemed to have too many issues in that area.

Thanks very much - that's very reassuring - even though I think it will be quite tough along the way. If anyone has any good advice about how to help a young child with verbal dyspraxia at all, I'd really appreciate it! I have found a speech therapist that specialises in it, so I've made a start!

hi if you would like to contact me please do email [email protected] my son has been seeing a speech therpist since he was 2 but was only diognosed with dyspraxia a year ago aged 7 [hes now nearly 9] he also has fine motor skills probs please please wot ever the age of your child please fight for the help that is out there i did and now my son goes to a main stream school that has a languge unit attached to it if you live in lincolnshire you child could go there as you get free transport i am not in contact with anyone who has a child with dyspraxia so if anyone out there has a child in school that could offer any support cheers debby

I'm an SLT (NHS and independent through BUPA) and I'd say that 2 years was way too young to diagnose verbal dyspraxia.

Also, you would need an SLT to diagnose this. A Paediatrician does not have the skills in speech and language assessment to make this diagnosis.

Ive never been able to diagnose this until Id worked on speech for a little while and saw how the child was presenting and what did/didnt help in therapy.

Im concerned you might take this diagnosis as read and channel your energies into it when it might not be correct.

Thanks so much. I've now seen a SLT who worked for years at the Nuffield and is very well thought of who now works privately, who also has confirmed after detailed assessment that it is dyspraxia. Plus when I look at the list of symptoms of oral dysrpaxia my little boy ticks every single box, so I suspect it's an accurate diagnosis. Sadly!

I'm conflicted though - the Nuffield therapist thinks we should start working specifically on this and then the other advice I'm getting is to do general speech therapy instead.

I'd like to do both. Can you see any danger in this?

I live in Australia and also have a son with verbal dsypraxia. he was diagnosed at the age of 2, when we noticed that he did not seem to be talking like the other children(he is my second child), and was only saying one or two words, used 'ha" for everything he wanted. we taught him some very basic makaton signing so he could ask for a drink eat etc, this made all our lives alot easier, as he became more confident the talking slowly started. of course like everyone else we worried, how he would fit in with others and would be be excluded, but he has never even noticed that he speaks differently, when his sister asked we said he just talk like that beacuse thats him, and thats ok isnt it..... everyone told me that he was ok , thats its just his age, etc etc. i am so glad that i had the instincts to get him checked out. He has only verbal dyspraxia (he is now 4) with no other issues at all, he can write his name knows all his letters and can count to 20. he is doing well now, he can speak in sentences, and even sings along to songs (in his own way). I want others to know that they can get alot bette than you even can think, dyspraxia kids are often bright kids, just lacking in speech, but as my sons speech is getting better his language is the same as a 4 year old, so he has all the automatic learning and sentence structure as others but just cant speak clearly. We are told that he is well on the road to normal speech that by school (18 months time) he should be alot more understandable. We try to make him not concious that there is a difference in the way he speaks to us, as he thinks he sounds the same as us..... Speech Therapy since the age of 2, was a godsend, its really set him up for the right path. i would say to anyone go with your gut instincts, the quicker you start therapy the better the outcome....

my dc was diagnosed at about 2.5 or so. The diagnosis came as he couldn't do any 2 syllable words. 'ma' for mummy, 'choc' for chocolate etc. Lots of very boring speech therapy (NHS) Boring cos so much repetition needed getting the tongue around certain words ie car/ key x10, and getting dc to lick sides of mouth or lolly stick. Pre-school was also v good for following up where the speech therapist led.

Diagnosis was that it was not a very bad case, and after 1.5 years of therapy, was signed off as speaking just the same as any other 4yo. I remember being so shocked to have his problem given a name - made it seem really serious, though of course it wasn't!

And no other problems for my dc - only the oral dyspraxia.

Thanks so much - all seems really optimistic - though I worry that ours is serious (guess everyone does) - he can't make a whole lot of different sounds and just doesn't know where to put his mouth to make them. What kind of therapy did you all do. We're starting on the specific Nuffield one which breaks down the sounds, but also I was looking at one which is all about touch and showing them where to place tongue and lips to achieve what they need to. Does anyone have experience of either with very young kids. Not sure our boy is responding brilliantly to the general 'bubble' 'pop' approach. He has the 'soft' neurological signs like hypotonia and possibly general dyspraxia, though has fantastic attention span and very sociable....

We had just the same, he said ha for everything and you could see the pain in his face because he had no idea how to make the sound, when my son started speech therapy, the speech path basically started to see what movements he could do with his tongue, which was nothing, he even struggled poking his tongue out! we made it into a game at home all sorts of tongue moevments and we all we so happy when he first pulled his tongue out at us....... we started with picture cards with easy letters for him to do, working on what he could try naturally even though it was just ha to every letter he finally started making slight variations in the sound and it just got better from there, it was prob 6 months or so before we started to notice he was slowly getting it. We have been in therapy for 2 years and i cant believe that it can get alot better than you think. It seems really hard at the moment im sure, but it will get easier. we still have problems with eating certain textures etc but he just eats the same sort of thing, he eats alot of fish.... Ive heard Omega 3 fatty acids are essential for helping kids with dyspraxia.... My boy now 4 is talking probably 50% understandable to others, by school in 18ths he shoud be able to talk and be understood, most kids grow out of this, so there is alot of light at the end of the tunnel.

We did taylor speech therapy specifically for a childw with dyspraxia, the SLP has a different way of teaching children with dyspraxia.

Yup we are using the fish oils - they're meant to be amazing and he definitely seems to be doing much more babbling since he started them. Do you remember whether you did the therapy where you match the syllables/sounds to pictures and toys - or did you do one where they touch the face to show what different sounds feel like?

Hi yes we did start with that. A picture of a rabbit was the sound "f" ( do the bunny teeth with the mouth make the sound)he would have about 6 or so per fortnight to work on and once he got them right and kept on getting them right we went onto the next lot. We did tongue exercises, also getting them to look into a mirror helps so they can see what their mouth is doing, we still do it now (he is 4) and tell him to watch my mouth and see how it looks when i say a word. I know it seems like a long way to go, i used to worry that i would have to teach him every single word there is...... but soon realised that he still had the automatic learning that other kids do, but just had trouble getting the words out, so as he got better with the sounds, he was able to try to say alot more. The SLP should be testing regulally on sounds, to see if there is beginning to be any variation between sounds, mine started with everything was "ha", then slowly started making slight variations in the sound.