SLP Mommy of Apraxia

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  • New worries

    New worries

    It’s no secret that my daughter has a short attention span.  I always worry of course since I’m her mom that it might be more serious than just the average toddler one minute attention span; however, today her school SLP expressed some concern as well.

    She asked me to come in next Wednesday to discuss possible strategies for keeping her on task in a group setting.  She said that taking her out has been working great for speech, but they don’t want to have to take her out of the room for every activity they are doing.  I obviously agree, but, sigh, I have to admit my heart sank.  I knew she has had trouble with attention, but much like her speech, I was hoping that no one else noticed and that I was just being an overly worried mom.  Having it pointed out by someone else makes my heart very heavy…again.

    My poor little girl.  I know that when things do get hard for her she has a tendency to change the subject (or switching her attention to something else since she can’t really verbalize much yet); however, she has a very difficult time attending to anything without getting distracted by something else.  What is normal, what is not, I don’t know.  I know it’s a little too young to diagnose ADD, but I hope to God she doesn’t have that too.  She doesn’t deserve this..any of this.  She’s the sweetest, most vibrant, lovable little girl who shouldn’t have to fight for everything she does or learns.  I know it’s not fair for all the other children who have disabilities either, but this is MY baby girl and I have a right to feel sad for her.

    I also know as her mom I have to be strong for her.  I have to be the champion in her corner, her advocate, her soft landing, her biggest fan.  I want to do everything I can to make sure she can be anything she wants to be, and be what our Lord meant for her to be.

    When my husband was diagnosed with bipolar disorder nine months into our marriage, there were people, many people, who told me that at least I knew before we had kids.  Yes, they were implying I shouldn’t have them.  However, that’s not what God commands us to do in the bible.  He didn’t say go forth and multiply unless you have some disease, ailment, or defect.  I believe He didn’t say that because He told us that we are all made in His image and likeness.  My husband says all the time how she is just like him, and it scares him.  It scares me too because his road was not easy.  But he’s here.  He overcame everything.  He overcame all the odds and now he is a loyal husband, doting father, and brilliant engineer.  God had a purpose for him, and He has one for Ashlynn too.  However, it doesn’t make it any easier.

    Ashlynn and her daddy on Halloween. Exactly 3 years old. 🙂

  • First week of pre-K

    After my IEP experience, I was excited but also skeptical pending the first day of school.  Excited and hopeful she would finally get the speech and language enrichment she so desperately needs, and skeptical because it didn’t seem like her teacher or SLP would be the ones able to do so.

    I dropped off her private speech report to the teacher and SLP so they could at least see her progress documented by the private SLP. 

    I was pleasantly surprised to see there were 4 kids and 3 adults in the room.  Talk about a great student/teacher ratio!  There was the teacher, the para, and then depending on the day either the O/T or the SLP.

    Day 1: I received a weekly agenda, which is basically the teacher’s lesson plans.  It’s awesome because even though Ashlynn can’t tell me what she did, I can look at the agenda and talk about her day with her. 

    Ashlynn came home and we ate lunch.  While she was eating, she balled up part of her sandwich, hid it in her fist, and asked me playfully, “Wherdido?” When I repeated, “Where did it go?” She laughed, opened her fist and said, “right der!.”  Now, “right there” she has been saying for a month or so, but this “where’d it go” was new!  She played it the whole day, obviously proud of herself. 

    Day 2: I pick of Ashlynn up from school and the SLP tells me that she believes it would be best to pull Ashlynn out of the classroom and drill (duh), but I was nice and on my best behavior.  I smiled and said, “Great!  I’m glad to hear that!  I think she really needs that.”

    Day 3: Ashlynn brings home art projects everyday.  Today we got a tree with various fall leaves.

    Day 4: Ashlynn brought home the cutest fall leaves wreath.  I immediately hung it up!  I love it.  Great for working on colors.  While eating lunch today, I asked her if she sang the song “Autumn leaves are falling down.”  She kinda said ‘ya’ and so we sang it.  When she was done, she said “see” for sing.  I asked her what she wanted me to sing and she said “bee..bubu bee.”  I clearly didn’t understand and she started kinda singing the melody to the baby bumblebee song.  I asked her if she was singing “baby bumblebee” and started singing it.  She started doing all the cute little gestures that go with the song.  I emailed the teacher if they had sang this song today (I hadn’t seen it in the agenda), and she responded in a timely fashion that they had been singing it all week!  How exciting!!  Ashlynn finally told me something that happened in her day!! 

    My skepticism might be waning.  I hope so.  I just want the very best for Ashlynn, and this week seemed very productive 🙂

  • I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, book of the month

    I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, book of the month

    Product Details

    I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie is a knockoff from the classic children’s song, “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.” 

    This is a great repetitive book I use with the kids to get ready for Thanksgiving.  The book chronicles a lady who goes through and eats certain Thanksgiving items. 

    In therapy, I have cutouts of all the various items that the kids hold.  When it’s their turn, the visuals may serve as a reminder to help them remember their word.  At the end, my older kids are required to do a summary and may use the visuals to help them complete it.  However, that’s further down the line for Ashlynn.

    For now, I gave her the word “pie” since this another bilabial she is still mastering.  In addition, it’s also one of the speech words used in the Kaufman apraxia card set.  As before, I read the sentence, “She swallowed the cider to moisten the___, the Thanksgiving___ which was really to dry…” pausing and pointing to her visual to remind her to say the word.
    By the end of the book, she was doing great and said “pie” in the cutest voice when I would pause for her to complete the sentence.  Her daddy even stopped in the hallway the other night to listen as we were reading it before bed.

  • Putting words together!

    Today was such a great day!  I have to write it down so I remember things Ashlynn is doing so later on, I appreciate how far she has come.  When I’m with her everyday, I tend to get focused on how much she is behind instead of celebrating the new things she does.  I really need to focus and celebrate all the successes!

    Today when she woke up from her nap, she started to say outside (ou-sie), and right before I could tell her no, we weren’t going to go outside, she said, “i – da-dee” (is doggie).  She tried to make a sentence using three words!  They may have been out of order and slightly unintelligible to an unfamilar listener, but I knew what she was trying to say!  I clapped and we cheered at her success.  She was so proud of herself she ran around the house labeling all the things she knew how to say just to keep up my enthusiasm 🙂

    She pointed to various things: shoe, share(chair), baby, hair, nail, nose, pupple(puzzle), baba(backpack), etc.  It was so cute!

    Later when her daddy got home, she exclaimed, “home!  Daddy home!” 

    My heart is leaping for joy today.  Today was a good day.  I can’t wait until we can really talk and communicate.  My child is finding her voice! 

  • Omega supplements?

    If you have done any research on apraxia, Omega supplements will probably come up.  I have had my daughter on Barlean’s Omega Swirl for a little over a month now.  Though there is no definitive proof that Omega’s help speech, I chose to try it for a few reasons.
    1.) Omega supplements have been getting more attention for helping disorders of the brain.  When I was researching bipolar disorder a few years back, one of the therapies included a good Omega supplement program in place of medication.
    2.) Omega supplements are encouraged with prenatal care.  Web MD says,
    “DHA appears to be important for visual and neurological development in infants.”  Since apraxia is a neurological motor planning disorder, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have her take the supplements.
    3.) Testimonials from other mothers.  I am part of an apraxia support group on facebook, and many mothers believe the supplements have caused great gains in their child’s speech development. 

    For these reasons, I decided to try it with Ashlynn.  I have to say I have seen a jump in her speech development.  She is now attempting to say 3-4 syllable words, one of which is vitamin..lol.  Two days ago she tried to put a sentence together,  “mommy..me…go…shoes” after I told her we were going to go shopping for shoes!  This was very exciting! 

    She just started private speech therapy and has only had one session.  Otherwise, nothing has changed in our routine. 
    I am still making her request items using a carrier phrase such as “I want” and “I see” modeling and expanding her utterances, and scripting our day for her. 

    Of course, I also saw a jump in her speech before supplementation when she finally started imitating sounds, which she wouldn’t even attempt before.  So, in conclusion, have supplements helped her speech development?  I can’t say conclusively that they have, but I also can’t say that they haven’t. 

  • Private speech evaluation

    I have been antsy since the poor and disappointing experience I had in the school district.  Poor Ashlynn has once again been subjected to constant therapy all day long.  In addition, I couldn’t stop thinking that I still have a month until she starts school and therapy, and then it might be another month or more after that to “give the therapist a chance.”  We could potentially be losing two months of valuable time that she could be working on speech!

    A thought came to me in the middle of the night, when my mind was racing once again with how I could help her more; and I realized that my insurance probably covers therapy.  I discovered that it did! 

    I decided Ashlynn can’t wait.  There is so much research showing that early intervention is key, and as her mom AND as an SLP, I know she is at a prime stage in development to effect the most change.  She is open and willing to practice, and even opens the app on my iPad everyday that is just to practice speech.  We have to act NOW.  As much as I pride myself on keeping up on the current research, I am not an expert on apraxia.  You might be thinking, what did you go to school for then?  Well, let me tell you, the scope of practice for speech/language pathology is extremely vast and it grows everyday.  Let me list just a few disorders as a school based SLP I am responsible for treating:

    Articulation/Phonological disorder
    Receptive or Expressive Language Disorder
    Auditory Processing Disorder
    Stuttering
    Autism Spectrum Disorders
    Global Developmental Delay
    Cerebral Palsy
    Down’s Syndrome
    Apraxia
    Cleft lip and palate
    Velopharygeal deficiency

    This list is not exhaustive.  Basically, this list is a group of the most common disorders I see in the schools.  SLP’s are also responsible for:

    Voice disorders and pathology
    Traumatic Brain Injury
    Aphasia
    Dysphagia (swallowing disorders)
    Dysarthria

    This second list is more commonly seen in medical settings and not so much treated in the schools.

    My point in this list is to show that all SLP’s have knowledge and training in all these areas.  However, it’s much like a general practitioner.  Your primary care doctor knows a little about a lot; but if you really want an expert opinion you may choose to go to someone who specializes in just a certain part of the body.  Someone who deals with your certain condition daily and who sees a variety of types.  The field of speech/language pathology is not there yet, but there are SLP’s who choose to focus on just one or a few areas thereby becoming more of an “expert” in that particular disorder.

    In the schools, it’s pretty safe to say the SLP’s are experts in phonological, articulation, and language disorders since these are the most common disorders seen; and the average SLP will work with these disorders daily.  In addition, most school-based SLP’s are extremely knowledeable about the law as it relates to them.  However, the average school based SLP will not see as many less prevalent disorders such as apraxia or stuttering; and though qualified to treat it, may or may not be an “expert” so to speak in the disorder.   After the IEP meeting, I decided I want to get “expert” help for Ashlynn from someone who deals with apraxia daily or almost daily. 

    I took her into a private SLP yesterday who came recommended by other mommies of apraxic children.  I left the session with my mommy sense saying “yes, yes, yes!”  This is exactly who and what we need!  She was extremely knowledgeable in treating apraxia, knew and quoted all the references in the literature, and had Ashlynn working to talk the entire time!  I’m so excited not only for Ashlynn, but also for me to learn from her as I set out to become an expert in this disorder as well.