Comments on: Verbal Dyspraxia

By: angela 9th June 2010

angela 9th June 2010 — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:58:03 +0000

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……

By: melanie

melanie — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:38:54 +0000

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

By: melanie

melanie — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:34:35 +0000

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

By: amanda

amanda — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:37:20 +0000

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…

By: Antonia Canaris

Antonia Canaris — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:38:54 +0000

Congratulations Eloise!,

You have shown us what a determined effort can do,

all the best for your future academic and social life.

By: Eloise

Eloise — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:53:37 +0000

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.

By: twilite

twilite — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:42:42 +0000

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.

By: dawn matthews

dawn matthews — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:39:07 +0000

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.

By: Helen Leah

Helen Leah — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:42:35 +0000

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

By: lisa

lisa — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:26:16 +0000

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