I appreciate both of you taking time to respond (special thanks to quaz for the PM!).
An update after this morning's eval by a different SLP...
My son offered quite a few different sounds and words (his versions of them, anyway) to the SLP. I was pretty impressed. At the end of the eval, she and I spoke for a few minutes (in a level of language we did not think he'd understand). She was also pleased with where we are today as compared to our first eval in mid-September. Lots of good progress.
I then asked her about apraxia. One thing I feel important to highlight: I would not ask one SLP to critique another SLP's methods, opinions or perspectives. That's an incredibly difficult (and unfair) position in which to put someone. With that said, I told her that apraxia had been mentioned, and that I was having some difficulty absorbing this diagnosis. Her response was that apraxia is usually not a diagnosis that can be made until age three. A child can display apraxic (sp?) symptoms when they are speech delayed because they're struggling to make their mouth work properly, but not necessarily be apraxic. Because what she saw today was such a leap over the initial eval, she was not necessarily hurrying to concur with a diagnosis of apraxia.
She said that such a diagnosis CAN help with insurance coverage. Since that is one of the things we're wrangling with now, it is possible our current SLP is using apraxia in her letter of medical necessity in hopes our insurance plan will waive their annual visit maximum.
I realize that this second SLP only had 45 minutes of observing my son, and in a limited amount of time it's hard to gather all information -- our current SLP has had the benefit of six weeks with my little guy! So if she spent more time with him, perhaps she'd observe the same things as has our current SLP. But, it was reassuring to have someone else say he's making good progress. I will take wins where I can get them! We'll take each day as it comes.
Thank you to all! Have a great weekend!
