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To:  soccermom05@email.com

From:  judybrooks1977@email.com

Subject:  son with verbal apraxia 

Samantha,

Hello, my name is Judith Brooks.  This week my son Matthew was diagnosed with verbal apraxia.  My friend Carol told me that your son was also diagnosed with this and he just recently finished his last therapy session.  I've been reading about verbal apraxia and I know that it's also called Developmental Apraxia of Speech and that it makes it difficult for a person to speak and in Matthew's case, the longer his sentence is, the worse he sounds.

But I really don't know what to expect to happen when Matthew starts going to therapy.  So I was hoping you could tell me some of the things that your son went through while in therapy.

With much appreciation,

Judith. 

From:  soccermom05@email.com

To:  judybrooks1977@email.com 

 Subject:  re:  son with verbal apraxia

 Judith,

I'd love to tell you about what our experiences are in dealing with verbal apraxia.  Sammy (that's my son's name)  required therapy 5 times a week and each session took 30 minutes.  This lasted for about 8 months and then we only had to take him twice a week and each session was 45 minutes long.  Sammy was in preschool when he started it and he absolutely hated the intense therapy. But as time went on, he began to tolerate it and would sometimes even be excited after particularly a successful session.  

After about 5 months everybody who knew him could tell he was improving.  My husband and I both wanted him to be able to say his name and he did just that after 13 months of therapy.  He went from saying "Na-Naa" to "Shammy".  He can now clearly say "Sammy" with no hesitation. 

It's hard to be patient when it's your child that is suffering but just hang in there and eventually you'll see improvements.  I found something that helped us was to keep a box or folder of everything we learned and did while in therapy.  It was a great way to keep all the information together and it really helped Sammy to see how far he had come.

Keep me updated on how Matthew is doing and please let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Sincerely,

Samantha 

 To:  soccermom05@email.com

 From:  judybrooks1977@email.com

 Subject:  update on matthew

Hi Samantha,

 I just wanted to let you know how Matthew is doing so far. He did his fourth therapy session today. He isn't the most thrilled kid in the world to be going to therapy every week but he does like his therapist.  I get to watch him from behind a mirror and you were definitely right about it being rough to watch him struggle.  He won't do too bad as long as he only has to say one or maybe two words but anything after that, the poor guy falls apart.  I always feel like running in and hugging him but I force myself to sit and just watch the therapist help.  She's really been a lot of help so far.  That's not to say that Matthew's made any major accomplishments but at least now we know how to work with him at home in between therapy sessions.  You probably had to do most of these things when Sammy was in it but now we do a lot of songs and practice on sentences that we use a lot. 

I also wanted to tell you that I took your advice on saving everything he did and what we've learned.  I suggested the project to Matthew and he was all for it. 

The first thing we did was to keep all the information they had given at the clinic, such as a pamphlet on DAS and iformation from a PowerPoint Presentation (to be added) Matthew and I went to.

I spoke to a student named Chris Stout who's going to Marshall University to become a Speech-Language Pathologist and he told me that he has a weblog with a few links to information about DAS.  Chris happened to be observing Matthew when I met him and he was kind enough to let me see what he was writing about on a form.

Matthew has also been writing about how therapy is going in a journal and he wrote a poem using the letters from "APRAXIA."  I couldn't help but cry when I read it the first time.  It just breaks my heart that my little boy is going through so much pain and I can't just step in a make it all go away.  I didn't let him see me cry because I was afraid I'd upset him or think I didn't like it.  He's really proud of that poem and he loves the idea of doing this little project.  As soon as we get home from therapy, even before he eats, he writes in his journal and puts his speech homework for the day in a folder.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how it's going so far and to thank you again for helping us out.  I promise to keep you updated on his progress.

I'll talk to you soon.

Judy 

 

September 20, 2005

    I found out today what it is that's making it hard for me to talk.  I had to go to a lady who looked in my mouth and then made me say a bunch of different sounds and words.  It was pretty hard and I messed a lot of them up but she said I did good.  After I finished saying all the sounds and words she came back to me and mom and told us what I had the most problems with and that she thinks I have something called Verbal Apraxia.  Basically, my mouth has trouble trying to figure out what my brain wants it to do when I talk.  She said that she could help me if I started going to therapy so I'm starting in 2 weeks.  When we got home, we talked about it with Dad and him and mom said it would be a good idea and asked what I wanted to do.  I told them if it would help me talk right then I wanted to do it.  Mom called the place up and said we wanted to start working on how I talk and they set up a time for me to come in.  I start on October 10th. The lady told me that I would get better all of a sudden but I hope it doesn't take too long. 

 

October 10, 2005

 Well, I finished my first day of therapy. It wasn't that bad.  Basically, the woman had me to say the same things over and over. Then she had me try to say things that were close to the real word.  I did better at that then trying to say the real word.  I felt kind of dumb doing it because I knew I was messing everything up, even the really easy sounds.  I started to get mad over some of them because they weren't hard sounds but I still couldn't even come close to saying them right.  She also made me sing some of the words instead of just trying to say them.  This was even worse than just trying to say them because I hate to sing, I don't even sing in church on Sunday.   At least she sang with me so I didn't have to be the only one sound stupid.  The therapist (Mom told how to spell that) let me take a break whenever I did REALLY bad and she told me that, believe it or not, I was doing really, really good.  I don't know how much doing all that stuff helped but it wasn't too bad and if it works, it will  be worth it.

Always afraid to answer questions, so I

Pretend I don't know by shrugging.

Reading out loud is almost impossible

And I know everyone is looking when I try.

X is a sound I can never get right.

I wish I could talk like everybody else

And prove I am just as smart as them.

Research Question:

What are the most effective treatment methods for developing verbal skills for school-aged children with severe developmental apraxia of speech?

Foundation Questions:

1.  What is developmental apraxia of speech (DAS)?

2.  What are the characteristics of DAS?

Tentative Point:

In doing this assignment I hope to share information regarding the most effective treatments for children with verbal apraxia. This will increase the readers' awareness of verbal apraxia, as well as how it is successfully treated.

Genres: 

Genre 1. Webliography             

Voice:  Clinician

Audience: General Public 

Rationale:  This webliography was chosen in order to inform the public about me and my general interests.

Genre 2.  Powerpoint Presentation 

Voice:  Clinician

Audience:  Client and Family

Rationale:  The powerpoint presentation will be developed in order to offer the client and his family some brief information about verbal apraxia and different types of treatment. 

Genre 3. Poem

Voice:  Client

Audience:  Client's family

Rationale:  The poem will help explain to the family what the client is experiencing because of verbal apraxia.

Genre 4. Email Exchange

Voice:  Mother of child with verbal apraxia.

Audience:  Another mother of a child with verbal apraxia.

Rationale:  The email exchange will describe the experiences of a mother of a child with verbal apraxia who was released from therapy  to the mother of a child recently diagnosed with verbal apraxia.

Genre 5.  Journal Entry

Voice:  Client

Audience:  Client (personal journal)

Rationale:  The journal entry will discuss the client's progress and/or setbacks during therapy.

Genre 6.  Observation Report

Voice:  Clinician

Audience:  Clinician

Rationale:  The clinician will record observations made regarding the client and use the results to form an appropriate plan for therapy.

Genre 7.  Pamphlet

 Voice:  Clinician

Audience:  General Public

Rationale:  The pamphlet will be used to inform the general public about verbal apraxia and treatment options.

Anticipated Integration of Genres: 

I plan to integrate all the genres by writing a letter from the client's perspective.  This letter will discuss the client's feelings about having verbal apraxia and how therapy is helping him.

Tentative Resources:

Aram, D. M., & Horwitz, S. J. (1983). Sequential and non-speech praxic abilities in developmental verbal apraxia. Developmental medicine and child neurology, 25 (2), 197-206. Retrieved September 7, 2005 from the Medline database 

Barnhart, R. C., Davenport, & M. J., Epps, S. B., Nordquist, V. M. (2003).  Developmental coordination disorder. Physical Therapy, 83 (8), 722-732.  Retrieved September 28, 2005 from Academic Search Premier database.

Chappell, G. E. (1973). Childhood verbal apraxia and its treatment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 38 (3), 362-368. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from the ERIC Database.

Deger, K., & Ziegler, W.  (2002). Speech motor programming in apraxia of speech.  Journal of Phonetics, 30 (3), 321-356. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from the Academic Search Premier database.

Ekelman, B. L., & Aram, D. M. (1983). Syntactic findings in developmental verbal apraxia. Journal of Communication Disorders, 16 (4), 237-250. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from the PsycINFO database. 

Harris, L., Doyle, E. S., & Haaf, R. (1996). Language treatment approach for users of aac:  experimental single-subject investigation. AAC:  Augmentative & Alternative Communication, 12 (4), 230-243. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from the Medline database.

McAllister, A.  (2003). Voice disorders in children with oral motor dsyfunciton:  perceptual evaluation pre and post oral motor therapy.  Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 28 (3), 117-126. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from the Academic Search Premier database.

Mirenda, P., & Mathy-Laikko, P.  (1989). Augmentative and alternative communication applications for persons with severe congenital communication disorders:  an introduction. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 5 (1), 3-13. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from the ERIC database.

Skenes, L., & Trullinger, R. W. (1988). Error patterns during repetition of consonant-vowel-consonant syllables by apraxic speakers. Journal of Communication Disorders, 21 (3), 263-269. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from the PycINFO database.

Ziegler, W., & von Cramon, D. (1986). Disturbed coarticulation in apraxia of speech:  acoustic evidence. Brain and language, 29 (1), 34-47. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from the PyscINFO database.