SLP Mommy of Apraxia

Tag: Apraxia

  • Ashlynn update 3.10 years

    Ashlynn is in a regular preschool this year with about 15 other kids.  Most are typical with about six on IEP’s.  I asked the SLP if she was talking at all in the classroom, and she looked at me like I was crazy and then answered “yes?”  I presumed it meant she was surprised that I didn’t think Ashlynn was!  In the Spring, Ashlynn was still gesturing and pointing in the the classroom to express her wants/needs, even though she was speaking at home in 2-4 word phrases; so this is major progress!

    Ashlynn for all intents and purposes can be considered verbal at this point.  She no longer gestures to comment or request; rather, she relies on her speech to communicate.  Her sentences are approximately 2-4 word in length, usually including a subject and verb.  Since she started school, I’m getting a lot more of, “momma wook(look)!!” or “momma! watch!”

    Her Grandma and Grandpa both had surgery recently, and a cute thing she said was,

    “Dama (Grandma) ha (have) an owie, Papa ha an owie…..daddy ha an owie too?”  Haha  She says a lot of stuff now that makes me laugh.  I remember waiting for the day I would hear her say cute things, and actually being sad thinking we were missing out on all the funny things kids say as they are learning language….but we are experiencing it…just a little later than some.

     

  • “Say what you want to say, and let the words fall out. I want to see, I want to see you be brave.”

    “Say what you want to say, and let the words fall out. I want to see, I want to see you be brave.”

    I heard a new Sara Bareilles song the other day.  I love music, but I really felt like this song was written for A.  It’s been a struggle to get her words out.  Even now, the other day at the park she was talking to a little girl appropriately saying ‘come on” and “let’s go again!”  It sounded more like, “tum on!” and “yet do adain” but she was DOING it.  She was putting herself out there, and REALLY talking.

    After a short time, the little girl asked her, “Are you a baby?”  A, looking confused, just covered her eyes and laughed at her.  On the sidelines, my heart broke.  How DARE this child say that!!!  Didn’t she know how much it took for my daughter to put herself out there and talk??!!

    Of course the rational side of me realizes this girl is just a kid who didn’t mean to be malicious or mean.  But the mommy in me wanted to teach her a lesson.  Instead, as usual, the person doing the teaching was A.  As she laughed at this little girl, it was really A who had the last laugh.  It was my daughter who is so wise despite her challenges.  Much wiser than me.

    Shortly after I heard this new song.

    “Say what you want to say, and let the words fall out.  Honestly, I want to see you be brave.”

    A is braver in one hour than I ever have been in my entire life.  I love you little girl, and I love seeing you be “BRAVE.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4

     

  • Conference take aways 2013

    Conference take aways 2013

    The Apraxia conference was incredible to say the least.  On one hand it was information overload, but on the other hand I learned so much.
    I was beyond thrilled to meet Sharon Gretz, the founder of CASANA.  What an incredible women and inspiration she is to me, and when I met her she was so down to earth and humble.  We swapped stories and I immediately felt a kinship with her.  It was also amazing to meet her son who was nonverbal at 5 talking and taking pictures of the conference.  She reported he was in college maintaining a 3.25 GPA.  Incredible.
    The breakout sessions were awesome.  I was never bored, though by the end I was tired.  I just want to soak up as much as possible.

    Some things that really struck me at this conference

    – Apraxia could have a sensory feedback component as well as a motor component.  One study showed that kids with CAS had a greater number of vegetative utterances in the first year.  These include things like coughing, hicupping, and burping.  The theory is that perhaps sensory feedback is to blame.

    – Kaufman recommends taking sounds in the child’s repertoire, and then creating words from it.  She didn’t just advocate her picture cards.  She also said she chose items in her picture cards that were of high interest to the child.  However, she also uses pictures on the iPad and in other materials.  She’s also not concerned if the child doesn’t “remember” or “learn” some of the words since the goal is just to map the motor plan.  For example, she said a child could go their whole life not knowing “oboe” and would probably be fine.

    – Kaufman uses a lot of approaches for ABA verbal techniques.  One was called errorless learning, in which you anticipate the child’s mistake before they say it and give them a cue to increase success.

    – Brain imaging studies show that kids with apraxia have more brain centers lit up during talking tasks then do the neuro-typical peers.  It shows just how hard they are working to talk.

    – Children with apraxia are at increased risk for reading difficulties.  Some reading programs that have shown success with children who have apraxia are the LIPS program, which allows a child to learn sound correspondence and sound segmentation receptively, as well as Phonic Faces.

    I look forward to attending more conferences in the future!  I also learned about an “Apraxia Bootcamp.”  It’s a four day intensive training, but some of the top apraxia experts in the country.  It’s apparently highly competitive, but I’m up for the challenge.  I’m going to start gaining more experience with apraxia, and already started networking with other colleagues.  I’m excited for what the future brings!

  • Switching private SLP’s

    There is no easy way to “break-up” with an SLP, but  I made the decision to discontinue private services through the SLP that was seeing Ashlynn.  A lot of parents wonder what is the best way, and I don’t think there is a right or wrong way.  I personally just wrote an email and said I was switching her to my mentor.

    I am very appreciative of all that she did; however, I feel like we had hit a wall with her therapy style.  Her style was to have my 3 1/2 year old daughter sit in a chair across from her for the entire 30 minutes.  The first 15 minutes she would do Kaufman cards, and the last 15 minutes she would play with a fun toy and have my daughter request and comment on it.  However, it was very controlled and my daughter couldn’t hold the toy or play with at all.  It had to be done all her way.  If Ashlynn threw a temper tantrum, she would look at me and tell me that when she has kids they are going to hate her because she won’t put up with that.

    Ya, well, good luck lady.  Kids throw them whether you “put up with them” or not.  It’s called being a toddler.

    After a couple months of this, my daughter was pretty over it.  The first 15 minutes turned into more like 20-25 just trying to get her to say the cards.  Apraxia therapy can be boring, but my goodness, I needed her to get creative!  I did bring up that maybe we could put it in a more naturalistic setting, having them play etc.  In her defense, she did try; but she still had Ashlynn sitting in a chair.  If she didn’t get something accomplished, she just told me to do it at home.  I remember thinking to myself that Ashlynn is one of the most compliant toddlers I have seen.  I wondered how “typical” toddlers who need to MOVE do in therapy with her?

    I tried to be polite, but I informed her that as a school based SLP, I don’t have the luxury of having my carryover plan include parents doing homework.  I have to get creative!  Kids need to be having fun, and besides, that’s how they learn the best!

    I had a great mentor whose therapy plans usually included 3-4 different activities in one thirty minute session. They were multi-sensory in nature, which are methods that involve using any sensory and motor input available to enhance verbal skills.  This usually involves some type of play activity that might have them throwing a bean bag, walking like a crab, or even using felt and velcro boards just to do something different with those same old picture cards.

    David Hammer, a well known CAS expert out of Pittsburgh does this as well.  I’ve been to a couple of his presentations now and he shows a lot of video.  I rarely see a child required to sit in a chair across from him. He has them doing puppet shows, hitting the cards with a nerf gun after they say their sound, or tossing bean bags in and out of a huge dinosaur’s mouth aiming at the artic cards.  He has them banging on drums to represent each sound or syllable etc.  This is the way to promote carryover, and I could see this SLP wasn’t going to do that.  She may have known the Kaufman method, but her therapy style wasn’t what I was looking for.

    That’s the thing.  There are always going to be reading programs, math programs, and speech programs out there, but teaching style or therapy style plays a big if not bigger part in facilitating change.

    When I was an SLPA (assistant SLP), I worked under a lot of supervisors and was able to see a lot of different styles.  All therapists are qualified and trained professionals that will most likely get the job done, it’s just some got the job done a lot faster.  That’s the kind of SLP I strive to be, and that’s who my mentor is.

    Since it’s summer and my mentor is off, I”m switching Ashlynn to her.  I know Ashlynn would have progressed, but I need her to progress faster, which means I need someone more multi-sensory. This is where I have seen my mentor shine and I’m excited for Ashlynn to start with her.

     

  • She is the definition of perseverence (a poem)

    She is the definition of perseverence (a poem)

    You went to speak, but the words wouldn’t come,
    Stuck in your brain,  so easy for some.

    You went to crawl with the best of intents,
    Yet your body didn’t know what your brain meant.

    You went to walk, big smiles and all,
    yet every time you tried, it ended with a fall.

    You went to drink from a big girl cup
    You would sputter and spit till it came up.

    A new car for Christmas kids want to ride
    Spins in circles, hard to learn how to drive.

    But

    You are a living example to persevere
    and with it you conquer all our fears.

    One day you said mommy, and I love you
    One day you crawled to daddy’s shoe.

    You don’t just walk but now you run
    You drink from any cup till it’s done.

    and I know in time you will do it all,
    with  more patience and practice
    you will conquer it all.

  • “I Will Wait” Struggles have made victory that much sweeter.

    Ashlynn’s progress continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  So many times I catch myself smiling and my eyes well up with tears to see her knock down all of her obstacles.

    Last month she learned to jump for the first time at 3 1/2.  At the beginning of the year, it broke my heart to watch her try on a classroom trampoline.  On their turn, all the other kids exuberantly bounced away.  When it was Ashlynn’s turn, all she could do was march.  Now, she is not only exuberantly bouncing, but she is catching air in my kitchen, on my patio, and even on her bed.  I was scolded for jumping on the bed, but I don’t care if she busts every spring and I have to buy  her a new one.  It’s worth it.  It’s all worth it.  Every penny spent, every happy and sad tear shed, every minute in therapy; it’s all worth it!  
    She also sang to a song that she had never heard before in the car last week.  Mumford and Son’s “I Will Wait” song was on the radio.  I was singing to it, and all of a sudden I heard her.  Her little voice filling the car with the chorus.  There are no words to describe the feeling.  I will buy the CD and put the album cover in her baby book. 
    These little triumphs, so sweet when  you have a child with a developmental delay.  She has taught me so much.  We may have had challenges, but we experience something so much sweeter when there are victories.  We appreciate all the little things so much more.  We never take for granted, not even for a second, her talking, her jumping, her SINGING.