Apraxia: Communication tough for Sterling Heights twins
August 30, 2010 in Special Needs News by Admin Dawn
“Leave me alone,” says an electronic voice as Alex Wathen giggles with his twin brother Peter. The 6-year-old boys type in another round of messaging and what comes out next is hard to hear, but the boys laugh anyway.
The small tabletop devices, what the boys call “talkers,” are touch screens featuring a multitude of words, symbols and pictures. The twins use the electronic and other tools to help teachers, visitors and sometimes even the boys’ parents to understand what they are trying to communicate.
The Wathen boys have apraxia of speech, a motor speech disorder. For unknown reasons, children with apraxia of speech have trouble with the planning and movements of the mouth and jaw. The root word “praxis” means planned movement.
via Communication tough for Sterling Heights twins – News – Advisor & Source.
Thanks for this article. So often people assume that we are being pushy to have our 4 year old son in therapy, because they think he’ll just grow out of his apraxia of speech and just start talking! We purchased a communication program called Tap To Talk that he can use on a DS. Although I had high hopes for this at first, he doesn’t seem real interested in using it. He has made a real leapwith his speech this summer, but I think that his preschool teachers may want him to use it . Anyone have any experience with communication devices – good or bad – that you could share?
My daughter also has apraxia compounded by speech complications from hearing loss (she was not diagnosed with hearing loss until age 5). I have been asking the school system about assistive devices such as the talker in this article, but have been met with arguments that she is verbal and thus it is not necessary. Plus they want her to talk for herself not rely on a device. She is getting clearer with what she says, but what she opts to say is very basic for her age. She is almost 7 and doesn’t expand deeper into topics – she sounds like a 3 year old. I was thinking something like the device above, or another piece of equipment might actually expand what she opts to talk to people about so that she won’t be so limited. I’d appreciate any thoughts as well.
We have twin boys age 4 1/2 starting special Ed Pre K. They are non verbal and have been training with AAC devices since age 29 months. It was amazing to watch their progress as their receptive language was less than 10 words when they started. Now it is well over 100. They started with an 8 spot device, then a GoTalk 20+, and now have a Dynavox. Working with AAC devices has been the most rewarding of their therapies. It has encouraged them to vocalize, which is a concern some people have. We participated in a toddler language intervention study, but if you don’t have access contact your local childrens hospital for resources. The teachers were skeptical at first but our therapist met with them to discuss strategies for the classroom. This helped a great deal. It is written in their IEP that they use it in the classroom. When this happens the school has to provide the device for classroom use. However, we provide our own devices as it takes too long to get the technology assessment and get the equipment in place, and I don’t think they have the Dynavox.
We have had great success, but it is work to get it in place. The best advice I could give is find an experienced therapist to write an evaluation stating the necessity of the AAC device. Even if your child has some words they still help. Take the eval to your Ped to get a prescription for the device. See how much of the cost is covered by your insurance. With the prescription they should not object to writing it into your IEP for classroom use. Make sure the teacher is comfortable incorporating it into the class (important).
Some cost effective alternatives are iPod touch ( not quite loud enough) or iPad with software such as proloquo 2 go, or a simpler app for younger children. Our main hurdle has been that proloquo and the dynavox are very complicated to start with. GoTalk is much lower tech. Even PECS are a great way to start communicating. We have had great experiences but are in a new phase learning the new device, which is very expensive and HEAVY to carry for anyone. I would go with a lighter device, but insurance doesn’t cover apple products