69 Comments Add your own

• 1. tracey kerin  |  June 1st, 2007 at 2:31 am

  my child is nearly 5 years old and suffers with severe verbal dyspraxia and dyspraxia, he not only has problems speaking he also has problems with fine motor movements and gross, if you have any more info that could help me i would appreciate this as i have waited nearly a year for m y child to see a occupatinal therapist to be told they can give him an assesment but cannot offer any more than that due to lack of resources. thank you ever so much from mrs t kerin

• 2. louise  |  June 2nd, 2007 at 9:39 pm

  my son has the same probelms as your son he is no 5 and a half trying to get the correct diagnosis for my son ( he was diagnoised as autistic at 2 yrs) has took three years i had to get the phone number of the cheif speech therpaist in our area to get someone else to see my son as in 18 months he only saw a speech therapist 6 times he now has the correct diagnosis of severe verbal dyspraxia and after him going to be reassessed by another department in another area i had to ask for him to be reassessed this was not offered to me other wise it would have just been left. he now is getting the help he needs after being reassessed he has seen for the first time a occupational therpaist and is now lucky enough to be gjoing to a language unit in septemeber 07 i would suggest asking the following gp ,speech therapist (or try like i did to get hold of cheif speech therapist in yr area i had to and it worked) try contacting the speech and language therpay services in your area like i did i spoke to cheif therpaist there i even asked for a meeting with her!! getting help for my son has not been easy i found you have to keep banging on people doors if you son is statmented at school try the education special needs department who does your sons statement if he has not got one i would seek about getting one for your son as my sons statement has been instrumental in him getting access to the help he needs being in a main stream school it has been hard to get to the stage we are at now but i found you have to do a lot of phone calling to different departments but it did pay off for us in the end good luck but these are the avenues i had to go thru to finally get my son the help he needed

• 3. Pat Owen  |  June 21st, 2007 at 7:40 am

  I have a dyspraxic daughter who is now thirty and I would like to offer some of the parents a few things I learned working with support personel for my daughter. First put everything in writing. If you talk to some one on the phone write up what was discussed and send a copy to them as well as their superiors. Never let a confersation go by without doing this. They don’t necessarily have to follow through with a verbal conversation, but legally they have to follow through with what is in writing. Always keep a copy for your records. If you have a meeting, take notes or record the meeting and send a written report of the meeting to them. If it is a Dr. send a report to the Dr, and any suppoort personel that your daughter is working with. At the school send the report to the Director of Special Ed, the principal, the classroom teacher, the speech pathologist,the learning disability teacher, the superientent and anyone else working with your child, such as an outside agency. This protects you and your child to see that they follow through with what was planned. Second, work with your child as much as you can at home. Have them train you to do certain skills at home. Your child spends a lot more time at home with you than he does at school or with a specialist. If the child is in day care write up what works best with your child and send a copy to all personel working with your child. If they have something to add give it to the day care program again in writing. The programs are all over crowded and the squiky wheel gets the attention. Once I learned to do this things go more smoothly because when it is written it becomes legal. Third. All reports should include the time of day, the date, the person or persons you talked to and the decisions made. Put down how soon the decisions made will be put into effect. If there is no follow through call and send a written report about the lack of follow through. This takes a lot of time at first, but eventually follow through will be faster when they realize you are going to hold them accountable. Fourth. Any written reports sent to you should be answered in writing to all personel that should have the material. Five. Do not have any outside reports sent to the school without you first reading them. I always wrote that reports should be sent to me and no outside communicate could be made with the school district or other support personel without my written permission. Later any reports sent to the school or other personel must be the same report that was sent to you. I hope this helps.

• 4. Carol  |  August 17th, 2007 at 9:00 am

  We have just been told that our youngest grandson (3 year old) may have verbal dyspraxia. I would like to know what I can do to assist him. Should I learn to sign? Where can I go to find out our role and responsibility to assist him in his development. At this point I find it very difficult to look after him because I do not understand his wants and I want to change this situation. Is there a support group in the Lilydale / Ringwood area? Can anyone tell me the prognosis for children with verbal dyspraxia as they reach adulthood?

  Pat I find your comments valuable and will pass these on to our little one’s parents.

• 5. Pamela  |  September 16th, 2007 at 8:55 pm

  Message for Pat Owen. I found your message very interesting . I would be interested to know if you daughter has managed to get employment and how she is managing with life as an adult.

• 6. Dana  |  September 26th, 2007 at 1:06 am

  I have a son who will be 8 in January. He is in the second grade. My son has been in speech therapy since he was 3 and a half, at which time he was diagnosed with CAS (childhood apraxia of speech). I used to be the only one who could understand him. I became his interpreter. He now is at, I would say a 100% intelligibility level. The “r” sound is the only sound we are currently working on. It has been a long, hard road, but these kids do and can get better. Our problem now is that we are seeing more fine motor/behavior/organization problems. His teacher has been great and is more than willing to do anything she can to help him and to learn more about his disorder, or whatever you want to call it.

  I have found that Mona Vie (an all natural, no sugar added fruit juice) has really helped with his mental focus and fine motor skills.

  I’m wondering if anyone else has tried supplementing their child’s diet with essential fatty acids or omega 3′s. I’ve read that this is supposed to help.

  Dana

• 7. m. smith  |  October 21st, 2007 at 9:49 pm

  HI, thanks for your comprehensive website. I have a 7 year old son who has been having speech therapy for pronunciation difficulties since age 4. He also sees a speechy and OT now regularly for literacy help and sensory help. HE has also seen a neuro developmental therapist and psycholofist. We have been on a diagnostic rollercoaster (is he asperges? CAPD?, etc) I have now realised that he fits the profile of motor dyspraxia best of all. I feel as if he needs to be looked at `freshly` again. Any suggestions? Do paedeatricians help? mel

• 8. michelle  |  January 23rd, 2008 at 12:43 am

  My daughter was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia when she was at nursery, she is now 7 year old and in 2cnd grade the educational department did not have any placements to put her into a special school, she is in mainstream school and is finding it very difficult, her teacher cannot hardly understand what she is trying to say therefore her speech therapist is going into school once a week to try and help out.I just feel really sorry for her she is such a happy wee girl at home but when at school she just wants to shy away as know one seems to understand her.

• 9. Robert  |  February 6th, 2008 at 5:30 am

  I found that dyspraxia ran in my family for several years. My sister (she is 53 years old now) had it and so did several nieces and nephews. My sons suffered from it and it was not discovered by my chidlrens physicians. In fact, they disregarded it as something small. I took the initiative and had them evaluated privately and I personally did the homework and found speech therapists for them. This is something that will last for life, we can work hard to make it better for them. We should all stand behind each other and back each other and assist each other because it is a long hard road at times. If anyone ever needs any advice or assistance, I am always ready to help. God bless you all.

• 10. E Stocker  |  February 22nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm

  My son was disgnosed with verbal dyspraxia at 2 and a half. He sees a speech therapist once a week and i do things at home but am really worried about him starting school in september. There are no speech and language units available for children without statements.

• 11. leanne craddock  |  March 19th, 2008 at 4:44 am

  my daughter is 6 – 7 in May and when she was approx 3 i had an appointment with the health visitor as i was worried with her speech, i found it very difficult to understand her. she put her forward for speech therapy which she had once a week for about ten then given a rest then started the blocks again. at the end of this i was told she had verbal dyspraxia. she was now at nursery and never talked much to anyone, and when she did no one understood her. she didn ‘t shut up at home but again we all found it incredibly hard to understand what she was trying to say. the nursery had a special needs lady in a couple of times a weekhelping her. when it came to her leaving nursery she arranged for an educational psychologist to assess her for a space at a main stream school with a specialist speech and lang unit. i think there was only ten places for the whole of the town. anyway to cut a long story short she was diagnosed as having a very severe speech problem and verbal dyspraxia and a panel of experts advised her getting a place at the school. i can’t praise the speech and language department enough, she’s been there 2 ans a half years now and she’s ‘better’ she has come on leaps and bounds, they’ve basically taught her her phonics and sounds from scratch. its been hard work and we’ve gone over her sounds with her on a night too but she’s such a good talker now. they are releasing her from her place in easter. she still has problems with her ‘R’s and sounds like jonathan ‘woss’ but shes not the same little girl. she’s confident and more importantly she can talk normal. i am so lucky to have gotten her a place and got it early. and the speech teachers have worked a miracle the educational psychlogist could not believe it. i only wished i’d recorded her before. so don’t despair there is light at the end of the tunnel. i used to worry that she wouldn’t lead a normal life or be unable to read she’s an excellent reader. anyone feel free to email if u have any questions x

• 12. leanne craddock  |  March 19th, 2008 at 4:50 am

  michelle i can’t believe your daughter has just been left. thats awful, my daughter was so shy the same as yours but she’s at the front of the class now her confidence has improved as her speech leaps and bounds, try and get an assessment with an educational psychologist to get a statement. one day a week speech therapy will be no good and i don’t think a proper special needs school is the answer. if she’s like my daUGHTER

• 13. leanne craddock  |  March 19th, 2008 at 4:53 am

  michelle i can’t believe your daughter has just been left. thats awful, my daughter was so shy the same as yours but she’s at the front of the class now her confidence has improved as her speech leaps and bounds, try and get an assessment with an educational psychologist to get a statement. one day a week speech therapy will be no good and i don’t think a proper special needs school is the answer. if she’s like my daUGHTER and ‘all there’ with her understanding and every thing else it was just the speech holding her back. i was told a special needs school would not help her. her school now is a normal mainstream school with a speech unit attatched she goes to her normal lessons and is taken out for her speech and she walso does it on a morning. we also do her sounds with her every night honest it works and since her speech has improved so has her reading and writing too. i really hope u can sort something out for your daughter

• 14. jackie  |  April 1st, 2008 at 3:41 am

  my son is 3 and was diagnosed wih verbal dyspraxia 4 months ago,he is able to use some makaton that is relevant for his age,the main problems that we are having is people helping us because of his age we get told that he will talk when he is ready and that he will settle into nursery without any probs,he has less thn 12 clear words and often lashes out,he mixes better in small groups,i also think that there is something else that hasnt been picked up on

• 15. Laura D  |  April 13th, 2008 at 1:48 am

  My son is now 7 years old and in mainstream school..he was diagnosed with Dyspraxia by his speech therapist by age 5 yrs old.He went into speech therapy at age 3.5 yrs old as he had basically no speech at that time and alot of obsessional behaviours.
  My son has made good progress but still sees his speech therapist once a week ..his speech is still alittle blurry around the edges..its his social and emotional development that makes him seem different I think..he doesn’t mix well with other children,he seems to find them annoying I guess,he prefers adult company.He is a bright child and recently we were told by his teacher he is a year ahead in his reading and his good at maths..then in the next breath she implied he is lazy and unmotivated as his written work is quite poor..and she implied dyspraxia is a made up condition..thanks alot I thought.
  My son attend the learning support unit within the school every morning and the special needs teacher is great.
  But my major worry is when my son goes off to secondary school..he has other health issues..a heart condition,asthma,hypotonia(poor posture/muscle tone/no stamina)..I worry he will find the school day too much (8 am school bus then not home till 4 pm),he could be bullied due to him being weaker and smaller and quirky…and that the teachers will have a similar attitude to his current one…I am considering home schooling myself.
  I also have a second son age 4 yrs old who is completely different and like a little dynamo.
  Been great to read everyone’s experieces on here.

• 16. Kelly  |  April 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 am

  Hi a bit of hope for you all. My Son started seeing a speech theropist at 21/2. I was told it was delayed speech. He was seen 3 times in a year and a half. When he started school in Sept 05 he has no speech at all. The headmaster had the attitude that he was just lazy. I had other opinions. I got in touch with the head of the speech theropy department for our local area (Yeovil) and insisted that she assesed my son NOW. I must say I had full backing of my health visitor. Within 30 mins he was diagnosed with verbal dyspaxia. Back at school he was put on school action plus extra funding and recieved one on one every day. We spent half an hour a night working on his speech and it was hard work. In September 2007 he was discharged from the speech theropist and is now very confident and a much loved member of the school. Although his grammer still needs a little work his speech is great. He needs a little bit of help with his reading as that has suffered due to the dyspraxia and the lack of ability to sound out words but is by no means bottom of the class although he is the youngest. We were lucky at the speed of our sons progress but hard work and lots of love does work.

• 17. Suzanne  |  May 19th, 2008 at 8:05 am

  I have a 10 yr old son and i have been fighting for 8 years to get a answer as to why he cant talk. I have just returned from great ormand street and they told me my son has verbal dyspraxia and willl never talk correctly. He is in mainstream school and has speech thrapy once a month i have had him assessed and they say he has the mental age of a 6 yr old. He does say a few words that are clear but other than that i speak for him. He gets very frustrated and lashes out at me he headbutts floors and punches himself. I have been told to put him in to a deaf school next september as he needs to learn sign launguage. I really want him to talk and to stop his appallin behaviour as it is getting worse. My son has been let down so much by the system it is cruel.

• 18. Sean  |  September 8th, 2008 at 10:55 pm

  Kelly | April 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 am

  Kelly – you mentioned yours sons improvement in speech. Apologies for asking, but how is his general behaviour. Did / does he have behaviour difficulties. I only ask because my sisters son is soon to be assessed and his behaviour is troublesome also.

• 19. Kelly  |  September 16th, 2008 at 12:17 am

  Hi, Well i am glad that i found this website! my son is three and a half and has been diganosed with verbal dispraxia and a severe speech delay, we have been in speec therapy since he was 18 months old and not really getting anywhere fast.
  Anyhow i am always positive i am grateful everyday that he is healthy and happy in every other way, and i must say considering the fact he can not say anything he still manages to get what he wants all the time!!
  I wanted to ask does anyone elses dispraxia child speak a babble language my son speaks words that are just not understandable at all by anyone? I call it like Pingu talk! would love to hear from anyone whos child might also talk this mixed babble.
  Thanks
  Kelly

• 20. carole  |  October 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 am

  So pleased I found this website. To hear stories of other children makes you feel that you are not alone.
  My son is now 4 and has been dianosed with verbal dyspraxia. He didn’t speak at all until this year and then everything including his dad was ‘mum’. We have had speach therapy since he was 2 and the speech therapist has been great even though our progress was extremly slow. We have managed to get help 3 times a week at his nursery which has been great and he is now saying lots more words, even if mumbled and unclear. I have started learning Makaton as simple requests such as ‘drink’ has been impossible without giving me a cup to get his requests across. However, since trying to speak he has now got a stammer which is getting increasingly worse. This has made the speach therapy harder as we cannot get two words together to build up speed. Has anyone else come across this or overcome this ?
  I am lucky that he is a September baby and will not start school until next year but already he has been teased as he is a big boy sounding like a baby and I am worried about him starting mainstream school. I know that there are speach schools in our area that he can join if he has a statement. I have been told to be prepared for a long hard battle to get this statement as even though he speech is so bad, he doesnt have anything else wrong with him. This goes against him.
  Does anybody have any advise on how to push for a statement or have a similar experience with dyspraxia and stammering together ?

• 21. Jo  |  October 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

  My little girl is about to be 4, she has been in speech therapy for a little over a year. She is slowly learning new words, but I’m always so scared that she will only get so far. The other day at her kindy another little girl her age said to me, “She doesn’t talk like me, will she when she’s my age”. I told her my daughter was her age and she still fun to play with. I feel the kids around her are now out growing her. The stories of hope, even a little is what gets me through and I like to thank you for them.

• 22. Jemma  |  November 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 pm

  It is such a relief that there are web sites like this it does make you realise you are not alone. We have just been told my son has verbal dyspraxia he is 3 and a half years old, he has had so many problems from birth, he could not breast feed, when bottle fed he was projectile vomiting after every feed and as a result took ages to put on weight, once he started putting on weight he seemed okay but sat up late, crawled late and didn’t walk until 21 months old, even when he could walk he was so clumsy and woulld fall over all the time (we have since found out he has low muscle tone also) By the time he was 2
  I started to get even more worried as he could not say anything, I went to the health visitor to discuss my concerns who referred him to a paediatrician and speech therapist. He has only been to speech therapy every six months and all they seem to do is make notes and watch him play then say come back in another six months, I have been getting increasingly concerned as he will start school next year. Finally our paediatrician referred him to a child devopment centre for further tests, where we have now been told he has verbal dyspraxia. It is a relief to finally know whats wrong with him, but I do feel I am going to have a battle on my hands to get the help and support he needs before he starts school next year. I would be interested to hear from anybody with any advice as I do not know anybody who has been through this. Thanks

• 23. Rose  |  November 17th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

  My nephew has dyspraxia and is 6 years old. One thing we have noticed is that he will eat and not chew properly and then suddenly vomit, usually over one of us.Is this part of the problem or is this emotional rather than physical ?
  I love him dearly and want to hep. His parents both work long hours and find it hard to get to regular speech therapy.
  Any ideas?

• 24. Angela  |  November 28th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

  Hello, I have 2 sons, the eldest is 5 and has a mild form of Autism. When we started noticing my younger son’s (2.5 yrs old) slow speech we were initally concerned that he may have had Autism too, but he doesn’t seem to have any of the typical Autistic qualities.

  I started seeing his Paediatrician for the speech delay problem around a year ago now, at 18 mths, and was told first to give it some time. At that stage he was saying only around 3 words, all unclear. Around 6 mths ago I took him back again at age 2 and was told to get his hearing checked. Turned out he had glue ear and got grommets to release the gunk and open the tubes better. We thought after this we might notice a marked improvement in speech but now 4 mths later he has still only a vocabulary of around 6 words, all fairly unclear.

  I was at my eldest’s son Special Ed Xmas party today and his teacher observed my youngest for around 3 hrs. She advised me at the end to get him looked at for verbal dyspraxia. I googled the net this afternoon and it was like a total lightbulb moment. Verbal Dyspraxia would definitely describe his inability to get his mouth and tongue to work properly to create the various sounds needed to talk. I even mentioned this to the Ear,Nose,Thoat specialist a while ago & Paeditrician and no-one even mentioned this, which now seems strange given how it seems to fit so well.

  Anyway I just wanted to say I have enjoyed reading ‘your’ stories, which has given me some insight into the condition and the road we may have ahead of us. To be honest I am a little concerned if he does have Dyspraxia and it will make life that much harder for us, but I am also a stage where I just want to know whats wrong, cos he’s such a bright happy little boy, he just can’t talk and people are starting to ask questions now.

  I wish you all best of luck with your journeys. Please if anyone has any advice for me on where to go from here feel free to add it here. I will check back regularly. I have him booked for an appt on Feb 4th with his Paeditrician again so I can mention to him and start looking at how to help him from here.

• 25. Dawn Matthews  |  December 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

  Message to Jo
  I am sorry for the delay in replying to you.

  first are you sure she has verbal dyspraxia? i only ask because they tend to call any child who has delayed speech verbally dyspraxic in australia. if she has this then she should pick up with speech therapy.
  to be sure can you do the tick box test for dyspraxia that is on my site. if she has verbal dyspraxia then she will have Developmental Motor Dyspraxia as well so should test as positive in this test.

  if not then your daughter might be misdiagnosed. if she does test as positive in this test then she should improve with time. you should be sent home exercises to do with her and tongue massage can help.
  get back to me once you have done the tests please and i will have a better idea of how to advice.

  Cheers Dawn

• 26. Dawn Matthews  |  December 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

  Hi Angela
  Thank you so much for taking the time to send this email. What you describe about his mouth and tongue not being able to get round the words does sum up verbal dyspraxia. That is the difference between this and stammers and autism.

  If he has Verbal Dyspraxia then he is likely to have Developmental Motor Dyspraxia also so you should be taking him to an Occupational Therapist as soon as you can as this is almost completely curable as long as it is caught young enough

  there is a lot more help and advice in my book on dyspraxia and this tells you why it is all happening.
  hope all goes well
  cheers
  dawn

• 27. Anita Sarkar  |  December 22nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  My child is 2.5 yrs old but he only speaks mama,papa, de na, aaja,& some more words.

  As we use two languages at home. Is that the problem of him not speaking yet.

  Please sugges what to do.

• 28. Dawn Matthews  |  January 9th, 2009 at 7:46 am

  Hi Anita,

  i cannot make a diagnosis on the strength of just this email, bit there is a tick test for dyspraxia on the site and a description of what to looks for. if your child has verbal dyspraxia he will also be dyspraxic so what i say about this should sound like your child.
  i have known children brought up with 2 languages and this can delay speech but he should be saying more than that. i think.
  i suggest that first you get his ears checked by an ENT specialist to make sure that he has not got fluid build up in his ears.
  get back to me when you have read more about i on the site.
  thanks
  cheers
  dawn

• 29. Ali Rich  |  February 4th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

  My Little guy was diagnosed at age 2 with verbal disapraxia. At that time he had the vocabulary of an 11 month old. He is now 2 1/2 and he says 9 words. That is if you count whoa, wow,da, ma, bebe, no and now yes. Progress seems so slow and we seem to be working sooo hard. We go to therapy 3 times a week. He is learning sign which has helped with the frustration immensely. I have seen small improvements. I just wish someone would tell me what I can expect. My other children are so great to help. They are also learning sign. I am already thinking about where I should look into preschool. He will be able to start this fall. Just looking for suggestions or help….

• 30. sceptical mum  |  February 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

  This is a relatively new condition it would seem. I am in my 50′s and know of no adult who cannot speak. Somewhere along the way we all learn to speak. The difference is that now parents expect their children to be articulate at very early ages and actively seek help for their children if they do not appear to be speaking coherently at 3 and 4. I recall a European study a few years ago where children with delayed speech were divided into two group – one received intensive speech therapy, the other no intervention at all. The progress of these children was followed for several years until the age of 8 (I think). Remarkably, at that age there was absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in either groups level of speech. BOTH were speaking well – however – the group that received intensive intervention were reported to be less confident in their language abilities. Of course, the study was undertaken in a Scandinavian country were there it is socially acceptable for children to develop at their own pace, even if that is more slowly than the “norm”.

  A whole industry and profession has grown out of “speech disorders”, an industry at pains to promote its services.

  Do yourself and your child an immense favour – love them, read to them, talk to them, don’t compare them, let them develop at their own unique pace – and don’t unnecessarily seek so-called “expert” advice.

• 31. Dawn Matthews  |  February 11th, 2009 at 8:02 am

  Hi, Thank you for your email.

  Very interested in what you have to say. There are massive industries everywhere trying to “cure” these things and dyslexia. I instead want the education system to change to fit these kids, who go on after education to be the most successful set of adults.

  Parents are all the time made to panic when their kids develop differently from the norm. And very few people know the difference between the various different types of speak problems and you need the exact cause in order to treat it, if it needs treatment.
  Thank you again for your email
  cheers
  dawn

• 32. Multiple mummy  |  April 1st, 2009 at 12:54 am

  Relpy to sceptical mum.

  It’s all well and good to be sceptical but unless you have a child that’s a little ‘different’ it’s hard to understand.

  I have 5 children 3 of which are triplets. I fully acknowledge that children develop at their own rate and in their own way but as any parent who has a multiple birth child who is slow or different will tell you it’s plainly obvious when something is wrong!
  We have parented all our children the same and even allowing for individuality there is no denying that there is something about Lucy that is different. We are in the process of testing to try and find some answers, and whatever they come back with, even if they tell me all is good and i can look back in 50 years and wonder what was i worried about as Lucy chews my ear off, I will never regret the time, effort and money I’ve invested in my child. I would rather exahust every possiblilty trying to ‘cure’ her than to do nothing and let her develop at her own pace and be sorry later that maybe I could have helped her more!
  Yes there are a million new disorders, diseases and disabilities popping up every year, but think about before people knew about diabeties, epilepsy or autisum even. I believe knowledge has made us more aware of peoples differences and that it is not about labeling people or making money (for the most of us anyways) but rather trying to enable people to get the most out of their lives as is possible!

• 33. Multiple mummy  |  April 1st, 2009 at 1:00 am

  Oh forgot to add that yes we love our kids, we read with them, teach them everyday things like counting and the alphabet. We are interested in what they have to say (kids say the darndest things son’t they ) and really listen when they speak. We never compare them with their siblings or anyone else and teach them to embrace their differences, Olivia love craft, Gabby loves to dance, Anthony loves to build things, Lucas loves to sing and our Lucy, well she just loves to love!!

• 34. Concerned Grandparent  |  May 17th, 2009 at 9:55 pm

  To sceptical mum I am sorry you are just that sceptical I have raised three children and understand that all children develop at their own pace. I now have two grand children; one born very prematurely now needing help just to concentrate at school to be able to progress within her normal age limits in class and to be accepted by her fellow students; one born normally who now has dyspraxia. It is not my imagination that she can not walk like other three year olds, as for her speech there is none only one word that you might understand the rest is just a garbled mixture of sounds. She has trouble eating as it tires her considerably and she coughs and splutters while drinking. She is very much loved, she is read to spoken to but she is also being isolated by other children her own age already. So if your advice is taken and no help obtained I wonder where she will be in another couple of years if pre school children are already avoiding her??

• 35. Kathryn Williams  |  May 21st, 2009 at 1:31 am

  Hi,
  I wanted to give an adult perspective on verbal dyspraxia for you all. I am 22 and was only this year diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia. I find it hard to always just ‘say what I mean’ and will very often just say ‘Blurgh!’ as I now what I want to say but I just can’t get it out quick enough!
  I am very lucky that I have been able to find work no problem and not having a diagnosis for my sometimes randomness has never affected my work. I have just started university and I have never been offered so much support!
  My advice to every parent is to keep pushing for the speech and language assessment and OT support. Keep pushing the schools to provide support but most of all, keep focused on pushing your child. My mum just thought I tended to be a bit lazy and she pushed me so hard that at first I resented her, but now I thank her because I am training to be a nurse and am learning to work around my disability. I was always praised for every good bit of work/art work/music I did, not told I could do better or people expected more from me.
  It’s never going to go away, but with the right support and lots of love from family you’ll find it gets better.
  Some people laugh now when I say I have verbal dyspraxia as I have learned to work with it and people think I am just abusing my students rights for extra equipment/support. Just ignore anyone who judges you or your children and push for what you deserve as an honest UK citizen

  Hope some of this helps

• 36. Student Nurse Kathryn  |  May 21st, 2009 at 1:33 am

  PS can I please ask that people do not say that people “suffer” from a disability or condtion please. I have a disbility, infact I have 3, yet I do not “suffer” in any way shape or form.

  Thanks

• 37. admin  |  May 30th, 2009 at 9:52 am

  Hi,
  Thank you so much for this and for sharing your experiences with this site,
  Good luck with your training Cheers
  Dawn

• 38. A 14 year old with Dyspraxia- Call me Dessie.  |  June 7th, 2009 at 7:49 am

  I was looking at all of these comments, when I realized most of them are from mothers, or grandparents etc.

  I’m a 14 year old, and it is just recently that I have been researching dyspraxia since my family never explained it to me.

  I am rather glad that I was brought up in a family who loved jigsaws and crossword puzzles, since I grew up with that, and I always wanted to them, so I ended up alright.

  So if you are having any problem with things like that, start doing crosswords and stuff, since my mother did, and I always wanted to be like her…

  But there is another twist- I was never explained what was wrong with me, and still, I am uncertain what is me myself, or an effect from dyspraxia.

  If you have a child with dyspraxia, please, when they are around my age, please explain to them again what dyspraxia is.
  It gets confusing, and we forget, and then I ended up thinking I’m stupid because I forgot I had dyspraxia.

  And tell your daughter or son’s teachers also.
  My mother didn’t because she thought they might think I am stupid, because I forget a lot and things like that…

  But, still do it! I know I’m not stupid, and I have actually been deeply thinking about stuff like this, and if you know anyone with dyspraxia, be kind to them, be patient with them!

  I’m asking you this, because I might be a 14 year old, but I am not an idiot. I can think things through, even if I have this…thing.

  Just…Don’t treat them like an idiot…Because it hurts to know your own parent won’t tell you things like these because they are afraid people will think you are stupid…

• 39. admin  |  June 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am

  Thanks for your email. I can say absolutely that dyspraxics are not stupid. They forget things because they do not actually perceive or take in everything that they se and hear so miss bits. this is why it is so important that as a parent or teacher you check that the dyspraxic understands what they are doing.

  In the UK one of my dyspraxic students won an international prize and was named as “young writer of the year buy Young Writer magazine. that was a few years ago, but she was definitely not stupid.

  good luck with your future.
  Cheers
  Dawn

• 40. Kim  |  June 11th, 2009 at 12:08 am

  Hello Dawn,

  What a wonderful find this site has been !!!

  Before I leave my story, I was hoping to do the tick test for dyspraxia on the site and a description of what to look for (as you have mentioned in a few instances above).

  I’ve been trying to find the link on your site and cannot find it anywhere.

  Could you please forward the link so I can do the tick test please.

  Thanks so much.
  Relieved Mum – Kim (Mum of Sky)

• 41. Dawn Crack  |  June 12th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

  I am the mother of a 22yr old son who has severe verbal dyspraxia. He has had intensive speech therapy since he was 4yrs old. it was stopped when he was about 13. He now uses a Lightwriter communication devise to communicate with others. He has been employed at a local hardware store for the last 5yrs and has just gone to america on his own. We are really proud of what he has accomplished. I think like most mothers we were constantly worried about him and you go through those stages where you wonder what they are trying to say. Never give up and always encourage. Thats what we do. Thanks for a great site.

• 42. Lisa Anderson  |  July 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am

  My 6 year boy was diagosed early with verbal and motor dyspraxia. He has speech therapy once a week which certainly helps but as he is getting older his behaviour is becoming erratic. He finds it very difficult to self calm and I am now considering looking at some form of social play development for him. He has had OT in the past. As well he still poos in his pants every day. It does not disturb him and he NEVER does it at school. We have tried every means to get him to want to sit on the toilet with no success – he has seen many so called professionals, who have not helped at all. I think it is now down to waiting until the time is right for him. Great site. This is the 1st time I have been able to discuss with like minded people.

• 43. admin  |  July 20th, 2009 at 9:27 am

  Hi,
  Thanks for your email. You have to remember that the world is a very scary place for a dyspraxic kid as he does not perceive it properly. you have to be very careful not to change routine because then it becomes much more scary and behavior will become erratic. I talk a lot about how to help this my in my book.

  Toilets are actually pretty scary for small kids. Try giving him his own potty somewhere where he feels really safe and at a hight he fells happy with. he might use tht then.
  cheers
  Dawn

• 44. margaret bartlett  |  July 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm

  All of your stories are so fascinating, Im so glad I found them. Makes me feel a little less alone.
  My little boy is 5 but will be 6 next month and has been going to speech therapy for the past 2 and half yrs. He attends both private and govt funded (these are only provided in blocks though).
  It was his speech therapist who first told me about dyspraxia. He tries so hard with his talking and language skills but many times I still have people coming up to tell me that they cant understand him, including the kids in his class. He is very shy at school and around people he doesnt know and yet at home he is a pocket rocket. I spend most of our time when we go out acting as an interpreter.
  He also has behavoural problems. He has “quirks” we like to call them. He has anger issues and can lash out when it is least expected , he will only eat from certain bowls with certain cutlery. He doesnt like change in his routine and if it is interupted then all hell can break loose. He has anxiety issues and many times the thought of something like school or going into unknown situations can lead to a full blown panic attack. He does see a clin psych for this but her suggestions are to try and break him of these patterns. Not an easy job for a little boy that relies on routine.
  He is also under the care of an OT as his co-ordination isnt the best – he tested in the normal range but at the very low end of the scale. He has also been found with eye tracking problems, a developmental optometrist has now been in contact with his OT and they are working on plans for him. He is also on the waiting list for physio as it was noticed when he runs he bends his knees outwards and tends to trip himself up if not constantly paying attention.
  He has been genetically tested by pedeatrician , all these results came back normal (the dr had some concerns about his facial features – he has a very elfin look to his face)
  He also has a lower than average IQ, a problem that saw him over looked for a language development school as they require children of “normal” intelligence.
  Sadly he doesnt qualify for aide time in main stream school as his IQ wasnt low enough.
  The sad thing in all of this is that he is normally a happy and cuddly boy and I can see him slipping through the school system. He has only just learnt to count to 11 – a HUGE deal!!! The other kids in his pre primary class are almost counting to 100.
  His speech therapist told me that with a lot of patience we can get him near perfect with his speech it will just take a long time. (for the past 2 and a half yrs he is still working on sounds, we hope one day to get him up to language skills)
  For all the parents here , dont give up. There is always light at the end of the tunnel for our little angels!

• 45. Natalie  |  August 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  Hi all, just been reading everyones stories and its good to feel that we are not alone!

  My son is coming up for 7, he was born extremely premature and was always diagnosed with developmental delay,he had a speech therapiste who referred him to get assessed for autism when he was around 3 as he showed alot of symtoms.He didnt have it.

  He attended nursery and had a home visiting teacher once a fortnight who worked mostly on his concentration.

  We had the choice of keeping him in nursery for an extra year which to be honest i felt would have been a waste of time as as much as the staff were lovely they didnt really understand what was wrong and why he couldnt communictae, he mostly played alone.
  We also had the choice of mainstream school which we just didnt think was the right enviroment for him and he would not have coped.

  He has now went into class 3 of his special needs school and the change is unbelievable! he started as a little boy who could only communicate with people who were very close to him, used makton and symbols and mostly pointed to what he wanted and now although his speech is not perfect he is understood by most people and can now ask for what he wants.He gets speech therapy in school but we are now waiting on a referral back to his childrens centre as his behaviour is now really bad, he has always been a bit of a `rogue` but the older he is getting the harder it is to contol his tantrums, he seems to have little violent outbursts at random times, no warnings.When he was younger this was put down to him not being understood and getting frustrated but he is understood about 90% of the time and 100% from me and his dad.

  Does anyone else have the same problem with their child? Is this a symtom of verbal dyspraxia(which my son is diagnosed with), i was thinking perhaps adhd but it cant be the case as he is fine in school.like he behaves all day at school, then saves it all up till he comes home.
  Any advice appreciated.

• 46. Natalie  |  August 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm

  I forgot to say that his behaviour has definately become more difficult since the birth of our daughter a year ago, although we made sure to spend a smuch time with him as ever so he dint feel left out in any way,He still hasnt really `taken` to her as much as we have tried.He seems to enjoy making her cry and taking things off her and she isnt allowed to touch anything and he wants her to stay in the one place and not move about otherwise he gets extremely upset, this as you can imagine is very hard to deal with, If anyone else has been through the same sort of thing i would really appreciate some advice on how best to manage this?

  Also he seems to spit alot? is this a down to his dyspraxia? He knows its wrong and not allowed but he even does it when he thinks nobody is watching.

  thanks

• 47. Bek  |  August 25th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

  Hi all,

  My son is almost 10. He has been seeing a speech therapist since the age of 2. In Kindy the councellor kept trying to send him to a special school for speech disorders, anyway In year 1 he was diagnosed as Dyslexic and now in year 3 he has also been diagnosed as ora mouth dyspraxic. I have been fighting so hard for years now to get the help that is needed, but each time am told that the government does not see dyslexia or ora mouth dyspraxia as a learning dissability, but then on the other hand I am repeatedly told that he has learning difficulties. He fits into main stream quiet easily, he has no behaviour problems ( his teachers and councellor keep telling me that he so well behaved, that they have never seen anything like it before) and he is also very popular amoungst the other kids. His main learning problems are with speaking, reading and wrighting, but give him maths and he is the first one to finish with only a few mistakes. I just don’t know how else to help him, he can’t do sight words as he cannot read, and he has troubles with reding due to the fact that he can’t speak properly. They keep telling me that in high school, he will have a reader and writer for him, but right now I don’t care about that, I care about the here and now!!! I have been giving him fish oil tablets and he is also on melatonin for his sleep ( he hates to go to bed before 1am), but in time I hope that things become a bit easier for him. But I do have a question, do you find that when you speak to your children for doing something wrong, that they really take it to heart, they will run and hide like you shattered their heart? The reason I am asking is my friends little boy also has ora mouth dyspraxia and the same thing happens.

• 48. Emily Quinn  |  August 30th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

  Hello,
  I have just found this site and have read everyones stories, i feel a little more relieved just to know my son isnt the only one experiencing these difficulties.

  My son will be four in November and has not yet been diagnosed. we have an appointment with pediatrition tomorrow and our wait time is finally up for speech pathology.
  I had not actually heard of dyspraxia before today (my mum just mentioned it to me as she has just started working at a school and someone suggested it to her)

  My son couldnt be breast fed as a baby, he didnt take to solids (food) until after the age of 1, he started crawling at 13 months and walked at 17 months. As a baby he never gripped my finger like any other baby would/had done before. Didnt make baby babble at all before he was 1.

  the first word he spoke was ‘mum’ at the age of 21 months (i think it was an accident), he got a big smile on his face and looked straight at me, we all got excited and i repeated it and then he said it again, then in the same ‘conversation’ it turned into mummamummamumma…. and stayed that way, and he used it for everything, including dad.
  That faded in time and he went back to saying only “eh eh” for everything. It has always just been “eh eh” until maybe four/five months ago, now he has started saying just the beginning of some words.
  he will say ca for ‘car’, baw for ‘ball’, bir for ‘bird’ and booga for ‘bubba’ (we think), and he says mama for both dad and I. Even though they are the ONLY things he says, it still makes us so happy that he has gotten that far, i remember being exstatic when he started shaking his head for ‘no’ at the beginning of the year.

  I cant help but think this is what they may tell me he has tomorrow….
  What do you think?
  P.S what is a ‘statement’, people have mentioned this as being something you need in order to have/get help…

• 49. admin  |  August 31st, 2009 at 9:26 am

  Hi, Thanks for your interesting email. Do not give up if the professional cannot help you or tell you what it is. Keep persisting. The little book i sell should help you as it tells you exactly why this is happening.
  You need to have him statemented if you are to get extra help at school. So push for it as it sounds as though he will need a lot of one on one help and then he should get it. Make sure you put down exactly what his needs are in the statement because then it should happen.
  You could probably also get a carers allowance for him as you will have to be putting in many more hours of help for him than other children get.
  Go to centre link for that and get the pediatrician to sign it and fill it out if he is helpful.
  Good Luck
  Dawn

• 50. admin  |  August 31st, 2009 at 9:42 am

  Hi Bek

  Thank you for your interesting email. To answer your question first. The reason he takes everything to heart so much is because his self esteem is so low that he feels as though he cannot do anything right and is always being told off. try saying,
  ” i am only telling you this because I care about so much an do not want to see you get hurt or anything, ” before you tell him off for anything and that should help.

  I have written my books etc for people like you. I am am confident that my phonics program will help him and that you would be able to do it with him, and it only costs $20 downloadable. I am in the final stages of completing my phonics literacy course which then be available multi media but for the moment the phonics course starts pretty much at the beginning. If you want to trial the initial package, of a few pages that is then meant to proceed the phonics course, please get back to me and i will let you se what i have so far.

  I very much doubt that he will get readers and scribes at high school. This is not happening here with any student I know of. They just keep being given photocopied sheets that they cannot read and then giving them detention for not competing the work. A parent on one of my students was phoned up for an hour just last night because his daughter was doing her math work in class when she had no idea what the sheet said or what she was meant to be doing. It might be better in other states. I live in WA.

  If anyone out there is getting readers and scribes for kids on a daily basis please get to me. I am interested.

  In the mean time good luck and do get back to me if you need to .
  Cheers
  Dawn

• 51. admin  |  August 31st, 2009 at 9:45 am

  Hi Natalie
  Yes most dyslraxic kids have temper tantrums. If he has verbal dyspraxia he will almost certainly have developmental Motor Dyspraxia as well, and if you pay attention as to when he gets these you will probably notice that it is when some routine or arrangement has been changed or something unexpected has happened. Dyspraxia is actually a perception problem. The messages that get sent to and from the brain are not always getting there so they miss bits of information. It is therefore hard for them to sort out life well and the world becomes a scary place. Just ,moving furniture around can make their lives every scaring and stressful. Changing a routine means that hey are unprepared for what is happening and that this is extremely stressful for them.
  I talk about this alot in my book on dyspraxia.

  try to prepare him for change and do not move things in his room or classroom about more than you have to. give him advanced warning of what is going to be happening next , the next day etc. this should help.
  cheers
  Dawn

• 52. teach  |  August 31st, 2009 at 11:42 am

  Good day!
  I have been reading all the messages here and truly learned from all your stories.
  As a private special education teacher (shadow teacher),i have a kid who has ASD and also has speech difficulties. He is now 7 years old. He can produce sounds, but no words yet. His behavior has greatly improved from the previous year. Now, he learns to accept the things that he can’t have. For example, he wants to play with his favorite toy, but it is already circle time. Currently, he is adjusting well if the routines have not been followed in class. I am really happy with his development.
  From the point of view of a teacher, i am rally happy to learn that parents are not giving up on their child. With the help of the professionals and constant communication between the parents and the teachers, i think the child can really achieve more than what we expected. We just have to be a lot more patient with them.
  Sir,is your book available here in the Philippines?
  Thank you!

• 53. Olive Hickmott  |  September 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

  I have been looking into whether seeing words in your imagination or on the paper helps reduce the occurance of verbal dyspraxia.

  The are many children whose speech improves when they ‘see’ the words they are trying to say.

  I should really appreciate any feedback olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk

• 54. Olive Hickmott  |  September 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

  I have been looking into whether seeing words in your imagination or on the paper helps reduce the occurance of verbal dyspraxia.

  There are many children whose speech improves when they ‘see’ the words they are trying to say.

  I should really appreciate any feedback olive@empoweringlearning.co.uk

• 55. Dana  |  September 25th, 2009 at 9:12 pm

  Hi, I have an 8 yr old daughter who has severe verbal dyspraxia and global development dyspraxia. She attends mainstream schooling in NSW with a full time teachers aide. She only says about 10 words (we call them survival words) they help her communicate with people. (yes, no, mum, dad, ok etc). She also uses Makaton signing which she was introduced to at 18mths to reduce her temper tantrums and frustration. She can now sign over 50 signs. She also has a communication device (Dynavox M3) which is set up for her to use at school and home. It does her talking for her and is now set up for her to use in Maths, Literacy and general classroom work (including news). She can not write due to her poor fine motor control so we are teaching her to use a laptop at school. Her dyspraxia also means she doesn’t get normal pain responses (has never cried or knows when she is hurt), isn’t toilet trained and has reduced taste and smell sensations. She is a very happy and socialable girl who is involved in Little Athletics for the Disabled and played soccer (of sorts) with her school friends this year. She is our beautiful little girl.

• 56. Donna  |  September 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

  Hi

  My three year old son has recently been diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia. I keep telling myself he will be okay, but I’m realising now he’s speech has not changed for over 12 months. His basic words are mummy, mine, no and more. I’ve started speech therapy and I’m learning to get him to look at me when I talk and to respond even if its just with and “er” sound. My husband and I are both devastated and I find myself crying all the time. I’m scared for his future and worried about how he will cope in life. To be honest some of your stories have really scared me. We all want the best for our kids and I don’t know that I’m strong enough to deal with this. I’m scared. I’m scared for him and his sisters. How do you be so strong. Everyones story I have read you sound so good at dealing with this. Please help me to cope with this and be the best mum I can be for my son. I love him so much but how do I do the best for him.

• 57. Dana  |  September 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm

  Hi, I have an 8 yr old daughter with severe verbal dyspraxia and also global developmental dyspraxia. She was diagnosed very early and has been using Makaton signing since she was 18mths to reduce her temper and frustration. She can only say about 10 words (we call them survival words) that she is able to use to communicate with people (eg mum, dad, yes, no, ok etc). She also uses a communication device, Dynavox M3. This does the talking for her. It is set up for her to use at school and at home. She is learning to use it in maths, literacy, to give her news and general classroom discussions. The dyspraxia affects many areas of her life. She is not toilet trained, have correct pain messages (doesn’t know when hurt), taste or smell the same as other people as she doesn’t get the right messages from the brain, they seem to get lost in translation. She is clumsy and falls over a lot and we have been trying to solve a mystery of a limp for 12mths but as she can’t tell us verbally or sensation wise where it hurts no one seems to have answers. We have seen about 8 different drs, physios etc. She attends a mainstream school with a full time teachers aide. She has her own curriculum as she is intellectual disabled as a result of all of these issues. She is not able to learn like other students and is well behind her same age students. But she loves school, loves her friends and teachers. She is the happiest child you could ever come across. She does little athletics for the disabled and this year she also played soccer (to her limited ability) at our local club with her friends. They have asked her to come back and play with them next year. She is our beautiful girl who makes us smile every day.

• 58. Dawn  |  September 28th, 2009 at 4:09 pm

  Hi, Olive,

  True verbal Dyspraxia, and in Australia they do tend to call any verbal problem “Verbal Dyspraxia”, so many of the kids have other verbal problems with a different cause, but the true version is caused by a imperfection in the perception channels in the brain. This means that multi-sensory teaching works best for these kids. In other words, try to involve as many of the perception channels as possible. Seeing, hearing, saying, and touching. If you can work out a way of involving smell as well then go for it.

  Hope this helps
  Dawn

• 59. Dawn  |  September 28th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

  Hi Dana,
  Thank you so much for your email. It sounds like you are doing really well with her. Thank you for backing up what I am saying abput using modern technology to overcome dyspraxic type learning problems. If it makes her life better then its got to be good.
  Good luck to you all.
  Cheers
  Dawn

• 60. lisa  |  October 11th, 2009 at 3:26 am

  Hi i have just been reading into this and it sound like this is what might be wrong with my 29 month ols son he is 2 and four months he says around 15 words and if he sees an animal he will make the noise of the animal instead of say the name he can say the word shoe which is quite difficult when he can even try and say the word car when its his fav toy!!! i have been trying to get my son speech therapy and finally have it now just got to weight for the appointment if any one has any ideas o how i can further help him i would be so grateful
  thanks
  good luck every 1
  lisaxxxx

• 61. Helen Leah  |  November 26th, 2009 at 7:42 am

  Hi i have been researching as much as i can about this condition as my daughter Chloe aged three years has been suspected by her speech therapist of having this condition. Her only words is bob, mum and moon. Chloe also says ‘er’ and points to things she wants or takes my hand to take me to the item she wants. Her behaviour is at times aggressive due to frustration. She hasnt started nursery yet but when she starts in the new year i have lots of worries as socially she hasnt gained the skill of making friends and feel that she might become isolated and unhappy. Will sign language help? Chloe doesnt have any motor skill delay does this mean her condition is something else? Please could you give me any information which can help my daughter – thanks from probably an overprotective mother

• 62. dawn matthews  |  November 28th, 2009 at 12:39 pm

  25. June | November 16th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

  Hi, I am 54 years old, live in the UK and have suffered from dyslexia all my life and has been passed down to my children and grandchildren. When I was young there was no ‘lable’ for people such as myself who struggled daily with reading, writing and arithmetic we were just ‘dumb or stupid’. I can clearly remember homework nights being reduced to floods of tears as my mother screamed in my ear to “read what’s on the page!” And many of my school days were spent not in the classroom but out in the outside toilets – unblocking them and scrubbing the sinks! By age 15 I left school but I had a great desire to become a nurse. However I had no qualifications so went to a pre-nursing college were there was a tutor who had an amazing ability to get me to understand arithmetic and English and I walked out of the college 2 1/2 years later with 6 O Level certificates! I did go into nursing and I passed with flying colours – I was second in my class! I continued to do well in my career and climbed to the position of Matron. As the years went by I volunteered to help children to read and found I could pick out a dyslexic child very easily but what was even better was the fact that I could teach that child without difficulty. From this I went abroad and taught English as a second language and again my own dyslexia helped me help the children with dyslexia.
  Now I am back home and I am helping my 8 year old graddaughter who has dyslexia too. She is a very bright very smart child and I know she will do well in life. The saddest part for me is that all these years down the line the education authorities have made poor headway in helping dyslexic children quoting reasons such as lack of funding for their poor assistance. And there are still ‘uneducated’ teachers who refuse to accept there is such a thing as dyslexia. So for a lot of people with learning difficulties, sadly it is still an uphill struggle.
  I class my life as successful and I like the way my brain works now that I have sussed out how to get it to work in my favour! So for all sufferers and parents of sufferers – keep working at your own pace – you will get there – you’re not dumb or stupid – quite the opposite in fact – and although you may have to work harder it will all fall into place in the end.

• 63. twilite  |  December 2nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm

  Hi! My son was born with verbal dyspraxia but of course I didn’t know that, at the time. He was 2 years old when my mother and I became concerned on him not talking. We did everything we could to try to find out what was wrong with him. We finally got help when he was 2 and a half. He attended the Child Developement Centre for a couple of years and they didn’t know what was wrong with him so they put in a referral for him to be assessed at Sunny Hill Hopsital in Vancouver, BC, as an outpatient for a week. They had him do a bunch of tests everyday. After a week, they finally came up with an answer. I was pleased that I finally had an answer but was discouraged when they said there wasn’t anything they could do, except speech therapists and stuff. They did tell me though, his speech problem would never go away but it will get better. My son is now 20 years old and he is doing GREAT. He communicates well with people. He has had a few jobs and attended University for a year. When he was in elementary school, I made sure that EVERY teacher knew what he had so they would have patience and understanding so they wouldn’t push him. I was right on top of everything. When he got to high school, he was on the honour roll every report card. He was very popular in school. When he was little, I was concerned he would be picked on in school and it was the total opposite. Everyone loved him. He speaks a little bit slower but most people just think he has an accent. I guess what I’m trying to say, is don’t let your child slip thru the cracks. There is help out there but you just have to keep at them to get it. That’s what my mother and I did. We were right on top of everything, schools, teachers, speech therapists, everyone. I couldn’t be anymore proud of my son than I am today. He turned out to be a nice young man that everyone absolutely loves and he can speak pretty good. He didn’t have any of the other symptons though, like poor motor skills or anything like that. It was just his speech. Don’t give up. It will get better.

• 64. Eloise  |  January 4th, 2010 at 3:53 pm

  I was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia when I just turned three. I couldn’t say audible words until I was four/five. I struggled with speech and my speaking only managed to catch up to my peers at around ten. Since then, I have trained myself until now at sixteen I speak far more eloquently than my peers . It’s far harder for me to speak than normal people and I have to think about the movements of my mouth and struggle to say some words like: specific, pneumonia, alveoli and metamorphism.

  My local area is notoriously bad for its SEN support and cash-strapped schools desperately keep statements for extra money. Therefore I have been repeatedly misdiagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum due to the social awkwardness with children my age. This was only symptom I had of being on the spectrum. My imagination for a child was amazing, I could socialise well with adults, I understood spoken/written/body language perfectly and I hated routine. But my primary school wanted to keep my statement so they branded me with Asperger’s Syndrome.

  It took me until I was fifteen to get rid of this label. The only reason it probably got removed was because I had a group of friends and got bullied less because I lost weight (was a size 18 now a size 10).

  I’m currently achieving academically in school – I am predicted 7A*’s for this year of GCSE and already gained 2A* in Science and English Language. It’s taken me many years to gain confidence in speech but I’ve finally got there.

• 65. Antonia Canaris  |  January 13th, 2010 at 6:38 pm

  Congratulations Eloise!,

  You have shown us what a determined effort can do,

  all the best for your future academic and social life.

• 66. amanda  |  February 27th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

  Hi everyone,
  It has been very interesting reading the posts here. I have a little boy he will be six in May and has started year 1 this year. Since he was just 3 he has been seeing different paeds and speech and ot therapists. He stopped seeing an ot almost one year ago now as his ot told me he no longer needed occupation therapy and was going to be just fine, he initially started ot for help with fine and gross motor development. Speech therapy has continued he has a great vocabulary now but has pronounciation problems, sometimes he will tell a long winded story absolutely perfect with only the occasional s or f sound getting mixed up and then other times he just can’t seem to get his words out and gets things back to front, seems to forget to swallow sometimes and then other times talks well but very slowly. I am wondering if anyone may be able to give me some insight as to what i should do, none of his paedatricians have been able to diagnose, i think it sounds like verbal dyspraxia but then sometimes he speaks perfectly so i’m not sure. I am just about to start him with a different speech therapist to see if they’re better his last one didn’t seem to help at all. He is quite shy at school and struggles to make friends as they do pick up on his pronounciation difficulties, however one on one with other kids even those from his school he plays really well and is confident at parks and our house, other kids house etc…

• 67. melanie  |  April 15th, 2010 at 2:34 am

  hi all i have a son who is 4 in june , i would just like 2 know if any of ur children have been bullied in school or has find it hard 2 make friends i feel so sad at the mo as my boy is very much a loner an dont make friends easy . im worried for wen he starts school this sept i dont want him 2 just b left by himself hes a lovin boy an does not ave a bad bone in his body he can say a few words at home but when we go out anywhere he will not even try an talk .
  i need 2 know if this will carry on forever or he will start talkin 1 day i love him sooo much an i feel that i need 2 do more 2 help him if anyone of u has any anwsers please let me know as its breakin my heart many thanks mel

• 68. melanie  |  April 15th, 2010 at 2:38 am

  sorry my boy has been goin speech therapy for a year an a half but has never said anythink there so we are startin macaton as a family 2 help him thanks mel

• 69. angela 9th June 2010  |  July 9th, 2010 at 9:58 pm

  My son turned 4 in April and is currentely attenting kinder. Our first concerns with him began at the age of 2 when he was speaking less then 20 single words (not clearly). Our maternal health nurse provided us with some numbers 2 think about over the next few months. First step was for a hearing test, then 2 get him assessed at ISIS primary care, then 2 see a paediatrician, where we he was given an Autism Assessment.
  It was only after we saw a private speech therapist, that she told me she thought he had Verbal Dyspraxia. A following visit, six months later 2 the same paeditrician confirmed this. At last, finally I knew what I was dealing with & set out 2 find out all I could 2 help him.
  He started talking in sentences just after he turned 3, with alot of help from his speech therapist & I must say,me. I find it crucial that I spend as much time working with him as I can. Even if its just 10 minutes twice a day (as his concertration wasnt 2 good, but has improved alot since kinder).
  I am involved with a service that is helping educate parents 2 help our kids & also 2 help him improve his social skills, as like with alot of u, he becomes very shy, reserved and somewhat awkward at kinder. His teachers have also come up with activities 2 help include him & increase his confidence with the other kids. I’m trying 2 teach him 2 approach a child he wants 2 play with by saying “can we play together?”, but he is still very reserved & plays alot on his own. Although, at home he is a completely different child, loud, bossy with his little brother, funny, curious, & he doesnt STOP talking!! I do find though that he does have the occassional temper tantrum out of no where & it’s usually when he is uncomfortable or not getting things his way. Turn taking has been an issue at school.
  I was so happy 2 read everybody’s emails, its makes me feel better knowing people can relate 2 our situation & that our kids need additinal help, but will be fine. It’s a long, on going road ahead, but all worth it for our beautiful kids……

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