There's a chance that my niece has this. She is right at the age when kids can first start to have this recognized (18 months), but she definitely has some characteristics (understands everything but has no babbling--just makes a noise; has always been a very quiet baby) and has recently started regular speech therapy. Just curious about whether anyone has dealt with this and how it is going. My brother is really concerned.
My son has it. He is now 7. He was not diagnosed until 3.5yrs. We started speech therapy privately around 20m, and continued until kindergarten. He did not have any words until after 3. Look into PROMPT speech therapy. It was life changing for my son. Traditional ST didn’t help him learn to talk as he had to figure our how to get his brain to move his mouth in the correct ways. Also - try to have them find a therapist with apraxia experience.
There was a time I wondered if my son would ever talk, but we found an experienced PROMPT therapist that he just connected with, and at 7, he is fully under stable. There are still a few sounds that he struggles with to say ‘correctly’. He is on an IEP in school for speech and OT. He also has ADD. Overall, he has come so far.
If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them.
Yep-18 months is too early for a diagnosis. At that age, a child with a pure "expressive language delay" and a child with CAS are more often than not going to look very similar. The best practice guideline set by the American Speech and Hearing Association is at least 3 years of age, and I've found accurate diagnosis prior to age 3 is fairly rare. Additionally, the approaches found to be most successful for kids with CAS are usually not feasible for kids prior to age 3-they just don't have the ability to attend or participate in anything resembling a structured task before that age.
My son had it. He was diagnosed around 2.5 years old. Through early intervention and intensive speech therapy, he is now in mainstream school and requires no special services. He had speech in 1st and 2nd grades, but they graduated him out of that as well now. I know the feeling of despair. When we came home from that appointment, my husband and I both broke down sobbing once we were away from our son. We didn't know what the future would hold. There is a lot of help available out there. Don't be afraid to ask for it.
My nephew has it. If I remember right, he started speech therapy around 2 years old, twice a week. He basically had a series of different sounds at that time, but no one but his parents knew what any of them meant. I can't remember if he was given a formal apraxia diagnosis at that time, or if it came later.
It wasn't something that any of us had heard of before, and I know his parents were very worried about what it would mean for him. It has really been fine.
He is now 5, and will be starting kindergarten in the fall. He has come a very long way. His parents and grandparents understand him without issues, and I can understand most of what he says. I sometimes need to repeat words back to him to confirm that I understood, but he's come so far in a short period of time and will only continue to improve.
It hasn't seemed to affect him socially at all-- he has plenty of friends, and has done well in PreK.
thanks, this is all good to know. only time will tell whether it's a garden-variety speech delay or something more, but I'm glad to hear that therapies seem to work fine for most kids.
I saw this post earlier but didn't get a chance to reply till now. DD had a speech delay that really didnt improve after 8 months of speech therapy thru First Steps beginning shortly after her 2nd birthday. I began to suspect apraxia because she would often say only the first syllables of multi-syllable words. A month before her 3rd birthday she had maybe 15 words and essentially zero 2-3 word sentences.
Since she was aging out of First Steps anyway, we took that opportunity to look into private speech therapy and it made all the difference. Her SLP had had extensive training in how to treat apraxia. She never did know for sure if that's what it was but knew exactly what to do to help her.
It was life-changing. She said her first full sentence (5 words!) within 3 weeks. She had weekly hour-long sessions for about a year and then twice a month for another year or so.
I also wanted to mention fish oil supplements. There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence from parents and speech therapists who notice huge improvements with this. I used a liquid supplement and mixed it right into her yogurt. The lemon flavor helps disguise the fish taste lol.
Nordic Naturals ProEFA 3-6-9 Liquid - Fish Oil and Borage Oil, 610 mg EPA, 405 mg DHA, 170 mg GLA, 400 mg Oleic Acid, Balance of Omegas for Heart, Brain, and Immune Health*, Lemon Flavored, 8 oz. www.amazon.com/dp/B003IGGUUC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_rxB4CbD470HC8