Wow - alot to take in but some great information! My mom and I spent last Friday all day at a seminar given by Nancy Kaufman - a specialist in the Apraxia Speech Diagnosis and Therapy. It was really fascinating and actually made me feel a little better seeing actual footage of children and the giant strides they make in their therapy. She had footage of some of the kids from age 3 and then again at age 18 - and you couldn't even tell they had a speech delay. Mom was happy she was able to go with me so that she could learn more about the delay and techniques of therapy so that she could understand Lexi and my discussion of her therapy much better. I so LOVED having her there so that I could have a second set of ears and just some support in this new world that we are getting into.
This seminar was geared towards speech therapists but there was a discounted parent rate and so my mom and I and 6 others were the only parents (grandparents) out of about 250-300 attendees. What was really neat is that Mrs. Kaufmann invites the parents to sit with her at lunch time so that she can have some one on one time with them to find out about their child and to answer any specific questions that you have. We got some good tips and saw things through other mom's eyes. We also found out how blessed we are to be living where we are becuase these mom's came from counties surrounding us and other states and we are so lucky to have the school system paying for Lexi to be seeing the specialist!!!
All in all - from what we saw and learned - we have high hopes for Lexi and do feel that she has some amazing things on her side and do feel that she will improve greatly and be talking our ears off with all of her stories in no time at all! If you could, mention her and us in your prayers in hopes of succesful therapy and the extreme amount of patience that all of us will be needing in the years to come!
4 comments:
I'm so glad that you guys were able to go. That is so cool that she spent some one on one time with the parents, what a great resource!
Hope everyone is doing well, miss you!
Hi there. I'm glad that you learned a lot from the Apraxia seminar. When Joe and Luke started speech therapy, the therapist said that Luke may have a mild case of Apraxia (and advised me not to look it up online because I would freak myself out) but had a good prognosis since he was receiving therapy early. In any case, Luke has made amazing progress over the past year and speaks better than his twin who wasn't diagnosed with Apraxia. Hang in there and Lexi's speech will improve before you know it (I am still wondering why exactly I wanted the twins to talk).
Love to all! Deb
I just found your post online and appreciated your comments on the apraxia seminar. I am a speech therapist directing my practice towards aprazia clients, and planning to attend the Kaufman seminar in a couple of weeks in Fort Wayne. I hope your sweet daughter continues to improve and good luck with therapy.
believe it or not, I found your blog by googling "apraxia". My son was just "cautiosly diagnosed" by our speech therapist today. He has had speech therapy for about 8 months now and is making very little progress. She has ruled out just about every other speech issue, and we just hit on apraxia. I'm a little freaked out by all the info on the internet and was relieved by the encouragement you found at the Kaufman seminar. Any idea how I can get a schedule of future seminars by Nancy Kaufman? I have been searching all day on the net for her "workbook" so Beau and I can practice at home, but the cheapest I can find is $98. I would love to actually hear her speak. Visit us at our blog if you want.... www.jackandbeau.blogspot.com. Thanks again for the encouragement.
Charlene
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