DD with Apraxia ~ basically non-verbal

[CLMomto6]

My daughter will be 5 in July and is basically non verbal. I have started some school with her but am at a loss as to what to use to teach reading. I was wondering if anyone else here has taught a non verbal child to read and what programs were successful ?
Thanks !

[KarenAnne]

No experience of my own, but I closely follow the blog Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords, about a father and his child who has massive brain deformation and cannot speak. I don't know how much your child's condition resembles this.

Schuyler, the daughter, uses a computerized communication device. You might be able to get information from him, and/or the links on his blog. I know his daughter is now ten and reads; she took the annual test required in Texas and passed the reading comprehension section.

[Cadam]

Does her SLP have any ideas or resources? Is she learning to sign? Is she getting appropriate ST for apraxia (very different than ST for other disorders)?

[Donna A.]

Does her SLP have any ideas or resources? Is she learning to sign? Is she getting appropriate ST for apraxia (very different than ST for other disorders)?

Yes, we found this out the hard way. The first two therapists we had via a private company who sent the therapist to our home (first one only worked for them during the summer, so they had to replace her, then the 2nd one quit due to her own family needs) didn't know what they were doing. Therapist #1 tried a spiral approach that she uses in the public school system, as she was amongst those who argue that Apraxia isn't a separate condition that needs special treatment. (The topic of Apraxia is very debatable among the ST community.) While the exposure to this type of therapy didn't hurt my dd any, it didn't help, either.

Therapist #2 was more familiar with Apraxia and did attempt a few different things, but I could tell she still wasn't quite sure of what she was doing.

Therapist #3 was at the speech clinic associated with our local children's hospital, and she was VERY good. With Apraxia, you have to approach it one letter and one sound formation at a time... basically, what we would call a "mastery" approach. She also used a variety of materials, i.e., multi-sensory, including hands-on, visual, and auditory. Even so, as is typical with Apraxia, they learn, and then sometimes forget. They learn again, and may forget again. You have to keep at it. Lots of repetition and lots of time and patience are crucial to treating Apraxia.

I also ditto the recommendation to learn signing. The Signing Time videos were a lifesaver here!

I'd concentrate on those things before worrying about learning to read just yet. You can work on individual letter sounds using colorful flashcards, hands-on activities, word lists, copywork (can she write at all?), and anything else you can think of. The Leap Frog videos were a big help to my dd even after 2+ years of speech therapy, a phenomic awareness class at the clinic, and much 1-on-1 here at home.

Basically, each skill needs to be learned in isolation for a loonnngggg time before she'll be able to blend any letters. Especially if she's still non-verbal... you need to make that a priority.

[mom2jjka]

I don't know about long term, but something that helped my apraxic daughter short term was the Leap Frog DVDs (Talking Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory)

We are just working on phonics/learning to read, and I can hear her humming the 'vowels' song from these videos when she is thinking about how the words are formed.

[CLMomto6]

Thank you for the replies. We own both the signing time dvd's and also the Leap Frog ones. The sigining time dvds are not a huge favorite but she does love the LF and will willingly watch those. We are not currently in any speech therapy other than what we do here at home. Our insurance only covers 20 sessions per calendar year and our appeals have been consistently denied. The local school system is a complete joke. They have no idea on how to successfully treat apraxic children. She was eligible for one 30 minute session a week and the therapy was not even close to what I knew would work with apraxic children. The therapist even admitted that she was on the "wrong track" with her and needed to do more research about what would work. She was sending home coloring sheets for her to do. It was all so frustrating.
We will just continue down the path we are on for now ~ she is always around when her brothers & sisters are doing school, she is read to throughout the day and we work on her speech. She is very quick and smart and I know one day the reading will come but she is still pretty young.