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Late Talkers
Correctly Diagnosing Speech Disorders By Kelly Burgess
(St. Martin's Press, 2003), says that often children with oral apraxia also have verbal apraxia.
"It's important to understand that with oral apraxia there is no muscle weakness or problem; it's just that specific movements can't be performed on command," says Dr. Agin. "Apraxia is motor planning without overt weakness."
Dr. Agin says that a classic verbal symptom of apraxia is when a child can say one-syllable words but can't go on to sequence the words and make longer, more complicated words or phrases. Because of this, a toddler with apraxia doesn't seem to have a growing vocabulary, as is normal for a child at this age. Out of frustration, they may even stop using words they already know. It's also not unusual for them to develop non-verbal ways to communicate.
This is how Lisa Geng's son, Tanner, used to fill gaps in his ability to communicate. For example, on a trip home from an amusement park, he wanted to tell her that the roller coaster's flip was awesome. Excited and overwhelmed, he used his hand to make a dipping motion while saying "whoosh."
Now, at age 8, Tanner's speech is almost completely normal, and he doesn't use signs nearly as much as he used to. Like Luke Gretz, Tanner was in six months of unsuccessful traditional therapy before being diagnosed with oral apraxia when he was nearly 3. Geng, who was appalled at the lengths she had to go to in order to get a correct diagnosis, started The Cherab Foundation and co-authored Late Talker with Dr. Agin
"There are a lot of assumptions about speech disorders because they are considered the No. 1 learning disability, but a lot of apraxic children don't have a learning disability and are, in fact, brighter than average," says Geng. "This is why a correct diagnosis is so important, because there's no reason for them to ever fall behind."
