Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Anyone with child that has Apraxia of speech?

Our little guy is aging out of Early Intervention next month and we're figuring out what's next (since we got the high functioning autism diagnosis back in January). His communicative speech is still very delayed though he has made a huge progress in how he communicates with us. He has been getting the standard EI speech therapy with a girl that's just freshly out of college and she certainly doesn't have enough experience to work with a child like him, but it's just a matter of another 3 weeks, so fine with me.

In the meanwhile, I have been trying to figure out what is REALLY wrong with his speech. He has a HUGE vocabulary that he has learned mainly from ebooks that are read to him (by Kindle and by all the kid's ebook readers), he likes to repeat the words while reading the books, he can READ a lot of words, some phonetically, some sight words ... but his big thing is communication ... actual TALKING to us and everyone else. He sticks to one word communication and even that's a big improvement (no more crying and tantrums). At the same time he LOVES to babble in his own way, usually in the evening. He has this whole conversation with you or with himself but it's not real words. It's sequences of mainly vowels and few consonants. It's like listening to some primitive African or Amazonian tribe. It's like words only make sense to him and he can formulate them when he sees them or hears them in a game / computer ... but can't put a sentence or even word together on his own. The more the therapist (or anyone) pushes him, the harder it is for him. I've asked the therapist a few times if she thinks there's something wrong with his mouth (muscle, etc) because he hardly moves his jaws when he talks, making the sounds even more muffled. Her only answer was to practice faces in front of a mirror ... he couldn't care less about a mirror!

So, reading up about all kinds of speech issues, I cam across Childhood Apraxia of speech and to me it sounds very much like what he has! Of all the symptoms I've read, he matches good 90-95% of them! Yet when I asked the therapist (just yesterday) what she thinks about him having Apraxia, she said absolutely not. Said that if he had Apraxia, he wouldn't be able to say the words at all. Not just have problems sometimes. .... but that is NOT what I have read in multiple sources???

He has an full evaluation (ST, OT and DT) this Friday done by our School district to see what services they can offer him once he turns 3, so I will bring it up there and I think I will get him a private evaluation through a place where DS4.5 goes for OT but wanted to ask here ... does anyone have a gifted child with Apraxia? if so, what were they like around 2 or 3 years of age? Both, my husband and I think that most of his problems are NOT autism related but caused by whatever speech issue he has.

My younger child has dyspraxia (sometimes called apraxia of speech in the U.S. if only oral motor is affected). It's a motor planning issue, getting your mouth to do timely what your brain is telling it to do. Kids with this problem can be anywhere on the intellectual level. Does he seem to know what he wants to say, but have trouble getting it out?

Hi,
Just to let you know, I also thought maybe DS had apraxia way back when, and the SLP said noooooo. I realized soon enough that he didn't have apraxia.
DS is just fine now, though pragmatic issues, and receives ST for this.
I hope you have good results from your childs upcoming eval

I am not a professional but what you are describing sounds exactly like a gifted child on the spectrum to me - huge vocabulary but no pragmatic language or interest in communicating with others. Avid interests - but entirely self centered/driven, with zero interest or tolerance for other peoples ideas, interests or activities.

I understand that you feel he's happy in his own world and only unhappy when in therapy - but to me that's kind of the point. While he definitely needs time to just be, and to be happy, he does also need to be learning the skills to function later...

His therapist doesn't sound that skilled so a full evaluation sounds like a good plan.

the problem is that some of those could be either Autism OR Apraxia / dispraxia OR both. I've been doing some reading on Apraxia / Dispraxia and how it differentiates from Autism and one thing that stands out for me is that with Autism the child is stuck on rituals versus with Dispraxia the ritualistic behavior is not there. He's never had any behaviors like that (unlike DS4.5 who has PDD-NOS diagnosis) and while he wants to do his own thing, he has no problems with transition. I've always said he's our "easy" baby. He's just very relaxed and goes with the flow. He IS very self directed.

Even his Developmental therapist and my older son's OT who've known him for about a year don't quite believe he's Autistic. They say gifted and very stubborn and with sensory processing issues (that run in the family). I would think that since he just turned 3 it's too early to evaluate his pragmatic language skills? But I'm not sure. It's one of the reasons why I'm getting an independent evaluation. ... we had DS4.5 speech re-evaluated couple months ago because I was worried about the pragmatic part of it and the evaluator said in the end that DS just has too much to say and makes it look like his pragmatic language needs help.

I just realized one thing ... my initial post was from about 3 or 4 weeks ago ... we have had some improvements since ... last week, basically overnight, DS3(this was 2 days before he turned 3) went from speaking in single words to speaking in full grammatically correct sentences! He still doesn't talk much but is clearly capable of it. But there still seems to be the issue where he can pronounce words clearly and then the same words say again and you have no idea what he's trying to say. His private speech eval is tomorrow morning so I'll report back what they come up with!

Family myth:
My FIL did not speak until he was almost four.

First thing he said was:
"Mother, may I please have more milk in my cereal; it is tending to be a bit dry."

His mother:
"You spoke! Why have you waited so long?"

Him:
"Until this moment, everything had been just perfect."

There seem to be some kids who want to completely master a system (speech or otherwise) before they use it. I wonder if you 'll see more of these nothing....nothing....nothing...everything! moments as he grows up.

yes, that's definitely a possibility! I never heard him attempt to count ... until one day he started counting the pieces of hot dog on his plate to 19 (23 months). I never heard him attempt to / pretend to read ... until one day he started sounding out and reading words (28 months) ... never heard him try to say the alphabet backwards until last week he just started walking while reciting A - Z and then Z - A ... and thought it was perfectly normal (other than telling himself "GREAT JOB!" when he was finished! :)) ... he's definitely one of those kids who are hiding abilities and then take huge leaps! The only problem is, when he has any sort of evaluation he comes across as 6-12 months old ... 18 months at best in the paperwork I've seen because he simply couldn't care less what others think about him!

I ordered the book Einstein Syndrome over the weekend to read up on it a bit more. Not saying he's the next Einstein, I know there are kids on this board that are a lot higher up on the scale but he certainly seems to fit the Einstein syndrome child description quite well. Might be interesting reading no matter what!

MK- that's why they say the saying "if you've seen one kid with autism, you've seen one kid with autism" *because* it is SO different for every child.

My DS did not have repetitive behaviors, was fine with transitions also. He had very mild stimming- but maybe it was just "nervous energy"? ok, it was most likely stimming. No one except for the Pysch who Dx him has ever thought he had Autism. No one would ever even suggest it. Of course I have TOLD ppl and his therapist knows, they don't question it- it isn't their job... well, some HAVE questioned it. I think with mild or high functioning- whatever name you want to give it- it is just such a fine line or gray area....

Does my child being possibly gifted make him less aut? or does his autism make him come across as less gifted?? There is no denying he is s.m.a.r.t.

The point I think what many are saying-- an Autism Dx is NOT a horrible thing. It doesn't have to be. For us it was a means to an end- DS rec'd needed therapy ie speech, adaptive skills(he currently is getting this- mainly to tie in his pragmatics in social setting). I/we have not treated him any differently than another child. We expect no more or less from him. Wait, I am more patient with him! **that's a terrific thing***

*kids who are simply just HG etc also sometimes need social help! another gray area- and the HG kids do NOT get social or adaptive or speech unless maybe a Dx of apraxia-

You need to do whatever it is that you feel is right for your child. Just don't let the word "autism" freak you out much. It is just a word. It doesn't define your child. It doesn't define mine! My DS is all typical boy with a few quirks. Again, you wouldn't ever know he had a Dx. He's bright, fun, funny (loves to joke and make ppl laugh),super sweet, has tons of empathy for others, and cares about the future of our planet and humans in general- he is very spiritual all on his own in this aspect (can be a lil bit freaky even asking stuff he shouldn't even be aware of!- i think this is the gifted side with maybe the auts innocence?)

If your child isn't on the spectrum, that is ok too ;)~