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A
Reason to Know the Signs of Oral Apraxia
By Lisa
Geng, a parent of two
(beautiful) late talkers, (one with apraxia) Founder and President
of two nonprofits for children with communication impairments, Children's
Apraxia Network, and the Cherab Foundation ,
Co-Founder of Speechville.com, and Co-Author of The
Late Talker book
I just
received an email from a parent who has a child that is about 18 months
old, is nonverbal, and was recently diagnosed with oral apraxia. She stated
that she was a "blubbering idiot" because she cried, and I sent her this
response, which may help some of you as well.
I remember
that I went to a huge fair for "special needs children" that was a really
wonderful and fun event for all the children, even the "normal" brothers
and sisters that were there. I remember having a great time and then,
all of a sudden it hit me that my son was invited there, like many of
these other children, because he was "special needs." All of a sudden
it hit me, not that I didn't know before, but up until then those words
never meant that much, I guess.
I stood
there, holding a hamburger for Dakota and a hotdog for Tanner, and I looked
at Tanner who was smiling... and I started to tear. My baby is "special
needs." I knew I could have lost it, so I focused on something else and
acted like I had something in my eye.
We didn't ask for
this when we decided to be parents; this is an added surprise. It doesn't
mean that it's bad, it's just not what most people go through.
Believe me I know what it's like to go from "he's just a late talker,
but man this kid is SO smart, just look at him!" and believing he
is completely normal, to finding out a day later that...
He is not talking
because has a severe neurologically based speech disorder which is called
all different names which can mean different things to different people
since the medical and speech professionals and the world can't agree
on just one name so it's called apraxia or dyspraxia or oral or verbal
apraxia or oral motor disorder or motor planning disorder or phonological
motor planning disorder but no matter which name you call it most of
the world is still ignorant to it but if I don't find out what he needs
for appropriate therapy through insurance and school when it comes to
speech and occupational and physical therapy as well as appropriate
ways to educate him he may never learn to talk, and in addition he always
had "soft" neurological signs like hypotonia and sensory integration
that up until yesterday I didn't even know existed and nobody not even
his pediatrician ever knew he had and it took a neurologist and a developmental
pediatrician to point these "soft" neurological signs out to us.
Sure there are warning
signs of oral apraxia, which can be spotted long before verbal apraxia. Problem
is that most people don't know what they are. Below are a few of the signs
of oral apraxia that our son Tanner displayed. Not every child
with verbal apraxia has oral apraxia as well, but it is not uncommon.
Outside of the obvious, the reason we believe that we need to include
this page in this website is because parents have read about oral apraxia
at this website and then, based upon the "signs" of oral apraxia they
learned about, they took their 2 year old child for an evaluation, where
the child was diagnosed with oral apraxia by a professional.
We have been told
that besides this website, there is nothing else on the internet with
Parent Friendly Signs Of Oral Apraxia.
To
give you an idea what is out there now, here are two examples: This first
one is a terribly complex example: a
textbook definition of oral apraxia (link no longer working.) This
second one goes to the opposite extreme of being an easy
to understand definition of oral apraxia, but provides VERY limited
information to say the least! If you find anything new you believe is
parent friendly, please let me know.
If
there is not information out there that can be understood by people outside
the field of speech, then there should be, for important reasons. 1) Experts
state that oral apraxia can be diagnosed as early as 18 months, which
is over a year younger than a positive diagnosis of verbal apraxia is
usually received. 2) For early intervention, "the sooner the better" for apraxia. Awareness should be raised about
oral apraxia while we continue to raise awareness about verbal apraxia.
Is oral apraxia a red flag to verbal apraxia? According to Marilyn
Agin MD and many other experts, almost every child with oral apraxia
has verbal apraxia. So
by catching these easy to spot warning signs early, we give our apraxic
children the best possible chance. Overcoming oral apraxia gives our children
a smile, overcoming verbal apraxia gives our children a voice. Below is
a quote from "A letter to parents" which contains some of
Tanner's early warning signs of oral apraxia.
"...We decided that
this diagnosis of apraxia finally explained why Tanner didn't move his
face much. He typically would just stare at you without any smiles.
We called him the 'serious baby'. Tanner couldn't even lick his own
lips! If Tanner had peanut butter or chocolate on his lip he couldn't
even lift his tongue to try to lick it off. Tanner would use his fingers
to push the food on his lips into his mouth. Also, Tanner couldn't blow
the candles out on his second birthday cake. In fact, he couldn't blow
bubbles until almost 3 years old even though he tried and tried. Nobody,
including Tanner's Pediatrician, or his first Speech and Language Pathologist,
knew these were all strong warning signs of Oral Apraxia, which can
occur with Verbal Apraxia. There are professionals who are knowledgeable,
you just have to find them."
When Dr.
Marilyn Agin, Medical Director for Early Intervention in New York, saw
Tanner for the first time at 3 years old, she shook her head and said, "I could have told you a year ago this child had severe oral apraxia.
He doesn't know where his tongue is in his mouth!" She diagnosed Tanner
with apraxia after a brief examination. The apraxia was never seen by
Tanner's pediatrician, and it took months for even a speech therapist
to diagnose Tanner with apraxia! Tanner could have received appropriate
therapy a year earlier if we had only known."
Also see Parent
Friendly Signs of Oral Apraxia
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