Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Mikey-Mike...

So, it's about time I started posting about this. After all, this is a spot for me to get it all out, right?!

Well, here goes nothing... Mike's speech therapist went on vacation the end of May. Since she was going to be gone for 6 weeks and the kids and I were going to be gone for 4 (2 of the weeks were overlapping so it would have been 8 weeks w/o therapy) I asked that another speech therapist be able to consult w/ me to give me strategies and exercises for our month w/o therapy. And am I ever so glad I did!! 45 minutes into our first session with A she says to me, 'Did E ever recommend that you take Mike to a child neurologist so that he can be tested for speech apraxia?' I talked to her but after about 10 minutes she had to go to her next appt.

I was so pissed... how come the speech therapist that has been working with him for over a f*cking year didn't pick this up?? I went right to the computer and this is the first page that I pulled up: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/ChildhoodApraxia.htm. The whole page was like reading about Mike! Here is what they said:

"What is childhood apraxia of speech?
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue) needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but his/her brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words."

My poor little guy gets so frustrated trying to get things out! He gets one sound out and nothing else! He looks like he just wants to say things and has so much to say and when he tries it doesn't come out. And then I read the symptoms and that was it for me...

"What are some signs or symptoms of childhood apraxia of speech?
Not all children with CAS are the same. All of the signs and symptoms listed below may not be present in every child. It is important to have your child evaluated by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who has knowledge of CAS to rule out other causes of speech problems. General things to look for include the following:
A Very Young Child
Does not coo or babble as an infant
First words are late, and they may be missing sounds
Only a few different consonant and vowel sounds
Problems combining sounds; may show long pauses between sounds
Simplifies words by replacing difficult sounds with easier ones or by deleting difficult sounds (although all children do this, the child with apraxia of speech does so more often)
May have problems eating "

Well, if that isn't Mike!! I was raging pissed and on the phone to E's boss in less than 2 minutes! How could she not have even brought this up, even if it was to rule it out!! What the hell kind of speech therapist can she be if EVERY symptom (including the eating one) fits Mike and she didn't say a f*cking word??!! She either sucks at her job or she is just an ass because anyone can see that this kid should be evaluated for this issue!

So, now I have one neuro appt. July 30 at 10 AM and the other Dr's office has no computer system for today so they will call me tomorrow to set up an appt. And needless to say, since this is the SECOND f*ck up with the early intervention in Lee County I have been in touch with them every other day and they have agreed to take E off Mike's case and we will now be seeing A as his speech therapist. It is a relief to me because I don't think I could even stomach seeing E anytime soon. Because of her, if this is what is going on w/ Mike he will have missed out on an absolutely necessary 3-4 more hours of speech therapy a week for the past 6 months!

Anyway, thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated! I will update more on this when I get the next appt and when we get back to Florida and I know more... Thanks!

With love from,
Chrissie in Happy Valley

1 comments:

Kay said...

OMGosh! How frustrating! I hope they can figure out what's going on so Mikey can break through that wall. I can't imagine how hard it is for him.

{{hugs}}