Jessie's mom
Jessie was 18 months old when I discovered he wasn't communicating like the other children his age. We went to several doctors, therapist,etc. before we finally got the diagnosis of Verbal Apraxia from Children's Hospital in Dallas. He was 3 1/2 years old. At that time he still couldn't even say Mommy or Daddy. It was heart breaking he had a vocabulary of about 10 words. We started him in speech therapy and saw some improvement. Then in January of this year we took him to a Pediatric Neuro Psychologist. She dx him with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)along with Verbal Apraxia and recommended speech, occupational, and physical therapy. At the therapy we learned to do oral motor exercises with Jessie, we learned about "brushing", and about sensory problems and tactile defensiveness. All of this started in March and you would not believe the improvement Jessie has made. He now has a huge vocabulary and can repeat anything we say. He still struggles with one on one conversation. Usually only I or his father can understand most of it. But more and more each day others are able to communicate with Jessie. We enrolled him at our local public school after really struggling with that decision. But he is going to receive occupational, speech, and physical therapy twice a week there and will be in a "regular" class room the rest of the time. He is very excited about starting BIG school. All I can say is research, research, research. Pediatrician's don't usually know squat about apraxia and some of the speech therapist i've run across don't either. Find a therapist who knows alot about apraxia and also find a good Pediatric Neuro Psychologist. They specialize in Neurological Disorders which is what Apraxia is. It's not just a speech delay or developmental delay there is so much more to it than that. If anyone has any other information or new treatments they have found to be helpful please write me at Jeremiah2911pdr@aol.com