Severe Verbal Dyspraxia

[Jesswith6]

Both my eldest children have been diagnosed with this disorder.
This makes it hard for them to be understood by people and they are constantly doing speech therapy.
Has anyone else had this problem?

[MistyFying]

Hi Jess

My 4 year old daughter has a moderate/severe speech language delay (as yet, still undiagnosed but speech pathologists and therapists are leaning towards dyspraxia).

She didn't start to use phrases until she was three, and has only just started short incomplete sentances at four and a half.

I've taken her to speech therapy since she was two. The early intervention has helped a lot, I believe.

I've also researched some natural therapies as well, in particular the link between the long chain fatty acids and neural development that controls speech/language.

Our latest challenge is to help her with voice modulation and intonation... since she didn't have words till quite late, she's still not used to lowering/raising her voice at socially appropriate times etc.

We're so proud of all she has accomplished. It was so hard at first (for both of us) when I enrolled her in an SEDU when she was almost three to start her intensive therapy for two afternoons a week. She was and is, quite an introvert so it was hard to leave her at the Unit when she cried.

I always found it quite annoying to hear people saying to me, "oh, she's just a slow talker.... how many 20 yr olds do you see who can't speak?" etc etc. I knew before she was two that she had some developmental delays when it came to speech (skipped the whole babble thing altogether), and yes, she probably would have been able to speak by the time she was 20 without any intervention, but if I can save her the heartache and frustration of not being able to communicate with her peers during her primary and high school years, then I definately will try.

I've already noticed the difference in her ability to interact and play with other kids her age now she has some language to express herself with.

Anyway, enough of my essay.

How are your two kids doing? Are they integrated into main stream schooling?Happy New Year, and congrats on your new pending addition

[Jesswith6]

Jack was quite normal until he was two years old, he was crawling and babbling, then one day he stopped. I had to teach him how to crawl and talk again. He was diagnosed with Global Developmental Delay, which in other words, from what I could understand, was in the too hard cases. He went to Early intervention through his 3 yr old kinder and then went free of charge for the last term to see how he went. He progressed through 4 yo kinder with constant supervision by his Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist. By the time I enrolled him into mainstream school, i thought he was really quite good at speaking and a lot of people could understand him.That is where the trouble started! When he started school, we (his stepfather and I) were told that he was to have intensive speech therapy, but no Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy, because they weren't going to try for funding for that. We had to get a referral to CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) to be assessed for Aspergers/Autism, that turned out to be a disaster as we were told that we were over possessive parents. Even though they agreed that he had Mild Aspergers/Mild Autism, they wouldn't write it on the assessment, so we couldn't get funding for that, and he wasn't diagnosed with it. That was two years ago, he is still having speech therapy and can't understand why he has to have it, still acts inappropriately and speaks in a high pitched voice, and he has constant obsessions(which are all parts of his condition).

Kate was a normal child as well until she started speaking, then it was clear that her speech she had picked up from Jack and she had his Verbal Dyspraxia, she too has had speech therapy since she was three years old and she is continuing to have it now. She hasn't the other problems as Jack, so she isn't as difficult to handle. She is also picking up the speech therapy much faster than what Jack was at the same age.