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Educational lectures for families and general public

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Educational lectures for families and general public

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CASANA On-demand Webinar Library - General - Apraxia Kids

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© 2017 - Apraxia-KIDS - the Internet's largest, most comprehensive and trusted website for information on childhood apraxia of speech (verbal dyspraxia, developmental apraxia of speech) and children's speech and language topics - including evaluation, speech therapy, research and other childhood communication topics.

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CASANA On-demand Webinar Library - Professional - Young Child - Apraxia Kids

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© 2017 - Apraxia-KIDS - the Internet's largest, most comprehensive and trusted website for information on childhood apraxia of speech (verbal dyspraxia, developmental apraxia of speech) and children's speech and language topics - including evaluation, speech therapy, research and other childhood communication topics.

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Diagram retrieved from http://casana.apraxia-kids.org/site/TR/Events/WalkForChildren?pg=informational&fr_id=2252&type=fr_informational&sid=1155

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CAS can be so frustrating and discouraging to the child.

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Uploaded by Carina Masson on 2015-06-27.

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Examples of different levels of severity in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

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Accepting new applicants

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We are now accepting applications for the 2017 iPads for Apraxia program! In this program, qualified children with a diagnosis of apraxia of speech are provided with iPads and protective cases in order to assist with speech practice; use as a communication tool, incentive and educational support.

The program, in its sixth year, was created in recognition of the volume and intensity of speech practice necessary for children with apraxia. Various iPad apps are designed to assist with speech practice in home and other environments. Additionally, many apps exist which can be used as communication tools or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for children still struggling to be understood. And since speech practice can sometimes be inherently difficult and repetitive, apps can also be used as incentive for completed practice by the child.

In a research report regarding our iPads for Apraxia project, parents and therapists reported positive perceptions of and experiences with the iPad technology at home and during speech therapy. Children reportedly experienced excitement, motivation, immediacy, reduced frustration, and the ability to practice speech outside of therapy.

Our 2017 iPads for Apraxia Project Application Packet contains all of the information, instructions, applications that are required. Parents or legal guardians are eligible to apply for their child. Residency and income guidelines do apply.

Applicants are encouraged to read the information and instructions carefully and to be sure to send all required documentation.

There is a complete set of "Questions & Answers" in the application packet. Because we are small in number of staff, we are unable to take phone calls regarding the application process. Individuals are able to email ipadsproject@apraxia-kids.org for questions. No other email addresses will respond to questions.

Finally, we thank all of our donors, participants, and volunteers in our Walk for Apraxia as well as Giving Tuesday donors. Without your support this program would not be possible!

Download the 2017 iPads for Apraxia application packet.

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CASANA Announces 2017 iPads for Apraxia Application - Apraxia Kids

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We are now accepting applications for the 2017 iPads for Apraxia program! In this program, qualified children with a diagnosis of apraxia of speech are provided with iPads and protective cases in order to assist with speech practice; use as a communication tool, incentive and educational support.

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Childhood Apraxia of Speech and health literacy

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Uploaded by Koree McAllister on 2017-02-24.

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*Please note that our "must haves" are not a replacement for good speech therapy with a qualified SLP, just additional helps we have found to work well for us. I am not an SLP, just a mom who loves her little guys and wants to share what has helped us in case it can help you and your little one.* View all our Apraxia helps here.

Here are the links to the apps we love and use often:

Articulation Station. Purchase the whole app for about $50 or purchase individual letter/sounds for $3/each as you need them. It's a great way to help your child learn to imitate. Mr. T loves playing around with phonics so this has been a lot of fun for him.

The McGuffey Phonics app. We love using phonics programs to help get a good grasp on sounds. You can also see how Plaid Phonics helped us achieve some great gains over the summer! Phonics is a fun way to work on letter sounds because there are so many games, fun books, puzzles, and activities. And while you're working on the speech part, you are also getting in pre-reading skills.

Endless Alphabet is a fun and engaging game that adds in new vocabulary, letter recognition, and phonics all in one app. The monsters mess up the letters, your child gets to put them back in order while hearing their sounds, and then the monsters demonstrate the definition of the words. The app is updated frequently with new words, too.
Fundanoodle:
Fundanoodle is a set of pre-writing and activity programs developed by occupational therapists. It is helpful for really getting a solid foundation on the motor planning portion of writing. Since Apraxia is a motor planning disorder, writing issues often accompany it. We love Fundanoodle! Mr. T is working on writing now and Mr. F is working on pounding, pre-writing, and following directions in the activity books. Get the Wiggles out is also our favorite game!

Signing Time:

If you are looking for a way to help relieve frustration due to communication, sign language worked wonders in our home. Signing Time has been invaluable for us! And if you keep it up, it counts as foreign language in many areas for homeschoolers.
Our Signing Time Tips:

Always say the word with the sign.

Hand over hand signing is a great way to teach the sign to your child.

Be consistent!

The always useful laminator:
Keeping your PECS cards, charts, chore cards, and practice word sheets laminated helps extend the life of them, at least for us. It's also great for homeschooling in general, but if you have a chewer, like Mr. T, then laminating your papers will save you a lot of printer ink!

You can see how we use more toys for speech at home here.
We are linked up here:

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Must Haves for Preschoolers with Apraxia

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Please note that our "must haves" are not a replacement for good speech therapy with a qualified SLP, just additional helps we have found to work well for us. I am not an SLP, just a mom who loves her little guys and wants to share what has helped us in case it can help you and your little one.* View all our Apraxia helps here.

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Repetitive books are a great and affordable way of practicing speech!

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One of the things I remember most about getting our diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech was the feeling of helplessness. While I understood that speech therapy would be key to helping our son communicate, that was only one time each week. I'm with him 24 hours, 7 days each week. What could I do at home?

For us, it's reading books. When we read books together, he not only looks at the books while I read it, sometimes he also watches my mouth as I read the words. Then, he imitates what I modeled for him.

And it wasn't something I had to force. He just started doing that.

While there are some great children's books out there, the ones that we've found to be most helpful in his language development are books that have repetitive words and phrases. These have become favorites for all the kids, and it's a great way to practice sounds without being forceful with learning.

Places to Find Reasonably Priced Books

Goodwill

The Salvation Army

Book Fairs

Discount stores (i.e., Marshall's, Big Lots, TJ Maxx, etc.)

Books can be pretty pricy. But they don't have to be. You could ask friends and family for books for birthdays and holidays. Here are some places you can usually find books for below retail:

50 Repetitive Books for Children with Apraxia

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury

To Market to Market by Anne Miranda

If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Take A Mouse to the Movies by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.

Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton

Red Hat, Yellow Hat by Sandra Boynton

Goodnight Moon by Margret Brown

Dear Zoo: A Lift The Flap Book by Rod Campbell

Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by by Eric Carle

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom

Who's Making That Mess? by Jenny Tyler Stephen
Are You My Mother?
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

by P.D. Eastman
Jump, Frog, Jump!
Up to Ten and Down Again by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino

by Robert Kalan
I Don't Care! Said the Bear I Went Walking The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything The Napping House
Wodney Wat's Wobot by Helen Lester

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

"Buzz, Buzz, Buzz" Went Bumblebee by Colin West

by Colin West

by Sue Williams

by Linda Williams

by Audrey Wood

The Big Book of Exclamations by Teri Kaminski Peterson

Pacifiers Are Not Forever by Elizabeth Verdick

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think! by Dr. Seuss

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley

She Sells Seashells: A Tongue Twister Story by Grace Kim

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Nadine Bernard Westcott

White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt

The Pirate Who Couldn't Say Arrr! by Angie Neal

Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London

Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey and Don Wood

The Yak Who Yelled Yuk by Carol Pugliano-Martin

The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord

What books would you add to the list?

Looking for more resources on Childhood Apraxia of Speech? Check out my Apraxia Pinterest Board:

Follow Whitney from Beauty in the Mess's board Apraxia on Pinterest.

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50 Repetitive Books for Children with Apraxia of Speech

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One of the things I remember most about getting our diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech was the feeling of helplessness. While I understood that speech therapy would be key to helping our son communicate, that was only one time each week. I'm with him 24 hours, 7 days each week.

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Free or low cost speech therapy

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Perhaps your child is a late talker without a diagnosis and you are looking for a bit of help. Or perhaps your child was just diagnosed with apraxia and you are searching for a lot of help. Either way navigating how to secure appropriate therapies can be a daunting task. Below are 5 ways to secure free or affordable speech therapy.

1. Early Intervention

In the US you don't have to wait for your pediatrician to refer you for an evaluation for services through Early Intervention if you have a concern about your child's development in the following areas -call.

Hearing

Cognitive development

Speech

Social-Emotional development

Language

Self-help skills

If your child is 3 years old and qualified they'll get something called an IEP to attend your town school's special needs preschool program. For speech therapy and related services check this speech therapy matrix which goes by severity to see approximately how much therapy your child should be entitled to. Even though securing appropriate therapy through the school is your child's federal right, it may not be easy and you may want to use outside the school professional evaluations to help you advocate. Which brings us to:

2. Insurance

While your child is legally only entitled to appropriate therapy through the school IEP, privately you can seek the best. And why not seek the best? Don't choose your child's professionals as you do your sports teams and only go to those within a certain radius of your home. If you have to drive a bit further to find someone amazing for at least a definitive diagnosis, and to help oversee therapy, help in setting short as well as long term goals for the IEP, and help monitor progress, it's highly recommended.

Main thing to remember is don't just take "no" for an answer when looking to secure insurance for speech and occupational therapy, as well and other related services for your child. For insurance it's all about the coding used. Make sure you don't have a diagnosis with the word "developmental" or "childhood" in it as that implies the condition is one that the child will outgrow on their own without therapy and will be denied. For example apraxia is a motor planning disorder, and there are various neurological codes to help secure coverage for that.

If autism or apraxia is suspected or diagnosed by an SLP you'll want to confirm or rule out global soft signs of hypotonia, motor deficits, and/or sensory processing disorder with either a pediatric neurologist or developmental pediatrician.

Some codes are red flags for denials. A great code to use if you have a child with apraxia is 781.3 which is "lack of muscle coordination /coordination disorder." This shows a physical diagnosis, which is typically covered, versus a developmental diagnosis, which is typically not covered.

-If there is an associated expressive language disorder with the apraxia, which is commonly the case, use #784.6 which is "other symbolic dysfunction."

If #315.3, 315.31, 315.39, or 315.9 are used, these are developmental codes and may not be reimbursed (Some codes have been updated since this page was created. If you need a conversion for a code that has been updated you can find it here.)

Note: In the ICD 9 medical code book, #315.4 is Dyspraxia Syndrome. The confusion is that is that many of the #315 codes are developmental, but not this one.

The code for apraxia is under ICD-9 Codes. Insurance Code Website

-Oral/verbal apraxia is a neurologic disorder so never use the word developmental (admin note: or childhood/CAS) or a code that is "developmental" in the report or on the bill.
-Useful ICD codes for Apraxia of Speech are #315.40, #784.69, #781.3. The latter code is also one used for Hypotonia, Sensorimotor Integraton Disorder, and Coordinaton disorder, which may be associated with apraxia of speech.

"apraxia, acalculia, agnosia, agraphia" is 784.69. Generally, codes in the 700 series are used for organic disorders. You should have neurological information supporting use of this code/diagnosis and should be able to answer the following questions:

Is there a statement from a neurologist or pediatrician supporting a neurological component?

How is this child's verbal apraxia different from an articulation disorder?

For more insurance tips and sample letters for your child's professionals as well as for the insurance company visit this page. To find a private SLP ask other parents who they are happy with, or you can search TherapistsRatings or Wrightslaw Yellow Pages For Kids With Special Needs

3. University Speech and Hearing Clinics

Check Google to see if there are any universities near you that have a speech and hearing department. Through them you can typically get free or very low cost therapy provided by a graduate student overseen by the PhD that runs the department. A Cherab Foundation affiliate Speechville has this page of University Speech and Language Clinics which has not yet been updated, but can perhaps get you started. You can also search for a graduate program here.

4. Sponsorship

Scottish Rite will provide free or low cost therapy for eligible families. You can search for a location near you here.

There also may be an ELKs or similar organization near you that sponsors special needs children. My son for example was sponsored by the ELKs in NJ for both speech and occupational therapy. According to the Elks "Nationally and locally, the Elks have worked diligently to better the lives of handicapped youngsters. The Order has a long history of supporting Special Olympics events, donating special equipment and supplies to the families of disabled children, sponsoring the treatment and research of many illnesses that affect children, and arranging for medical personnel to provide free in-home therapy services." Check to see if there are any sponsorship opportunities for your child, for example Small Steps in Speech: The mission of Small Steps in Speech is to help children with speech and/or language disorders take the steps needed to be better communicators. They offer grants to purchase communication devices (including iPads). Additional grant or sponsorship opportunities

5. Placing An Ad

This one may seem risky, however it was shared at one of the Cherab support groups as a highly successful way of securing inexpensive appropriate therapy. The mom placed an ad looking for an SLP for her child and asked for references and resumes and was shocked at both the amount and the quality of the SLPs that responded to her local ad. Of course not all areas of the country or world may have the same response level, but may be worth a shot.
The mom wrote "THERAPY idea for all of you parents!!!
I know a lot of you are stuck without ANY help from social security, Medicaid, etc and are paying out of pocket, or HUGE copays for therapy ... WELL...
I posted a job offer onindeed.com asking for a private therapist, and I offered 30$ for 30 mins or 60$ an hour for therapy sessions a few days a week (right now, I am paying 100$ a week for TWO sessions that are 30 mins long... ugh)
Anyway, within a week, 2 people responded. I have hired one of them. She is AWESOME and the GREAT thing is, she is going to come TO my home...
So feeding therapy with vomiting doesn't have to happen at an office! WOOOOOOT!
A lot of these therapists are really wanting to be private contractors... they just don't have enough people to start. Just wanted to share this info.
(By the way, my daughter is too old for Early Intervention and she is already in a pre-k class, special education at school. just FYI)"
~~~~~~~

If you have any other suggestions please share below!

Lisa Geng

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5 Ways To Get Free Or Affordable Speech Therapy

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Perhaps your child is a late talker without a diagnosis and you are looking for a bit of help. Or perhaps your child was just diagnosed with apraxia and you are searching for a lot of help. Either way navigating how to secure appropriate therapies can be a daunting task.

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What would you go through as a parent to give your child the power of speech? Parents dream their children will achieve many great things, but most parents do not dream their children will struggle for years just to speak what is in their hearts and minds.

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Anything But Silent has 22 ratings and 7 reviews. Eric said: At the beginning of the book, author Kathy Hennessy says this is our family's journey with ...

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Who can you turn to for diagnosis?

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Speech-language pathologists are the professionals who diagnose and treat disorders of speech, language, and swallowing. Thus, the assessment and diagnosis of apraxia of speech, as well as all other speech sound disorders, are within the scope of professional responsibilities of SLPs. While other professionals, such as physicians, educators, occupational or physical therapists, may provide essential information that contributes to the assessment, speech-language pathologists have the responsibility for integrating assessment results and for differentiating apraxia of speech from other speech and/or language disorders.

There has been some controversy about the issue of diagnosis as it relates to apraxia of speech for several reasons. First, the term "apraxia" implies a neurological cause to the disorder. However, as Shriberg pointed out in the March 2001 issue of this newsletter, a definite cause for AOS in children has yet to be established. A second reason for this controversy has to do with conflicting opinions about the nature of the speech disturbance and its possible linguistic, motoric, or cognitive underpinnings. Regardless of the controversy, the term developmental apraxia of speech is used to describe a fairly specific pattern of speech symptoms in children and there is some agreement among practitioners as to the nature, type, and treatment of these patterns.

ASHA's revised Scope of Practice (ASHA, 2001) states that "the roles of speech-language pathologists include prevention of communication and upper aerodigestive disorders as well as diagnosis, habilitation, rehabilitation, and enhancement of these functions." The Scope of Practice document, which emphasizes the breadth of speech-language pathology practice also indicates that individual speech-language pathologists may have limitations: "It is recognized that levels of experience, skill, and proficiency with respect to the activities identified within this scope of practice vary among individual providers. It may not be possible for a speech-language pathologist to practice in all areas of the field. As the ASHA Code of Ethics specifies, individuals may only practice in areas where they are competent based on their education, training, and experience. However, speech-language pathologists are not limited from expanding their current level of competence. Certain situations may necessitate that speech-language pathologists pursue additional education or training to expand their personal scope of practice. The current ASHA Scope of Practice in SLP can be found at:
http://www.asha.org/NR/rdonlyres/4FDEE27B-BAF5-4D06-AC4D-8D1F311C1B06/ 0/19446_1.pdf
(Dr. Alex Johnson is former Vice President for Professional Practices in Speech-Language Pathology for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA]. Dr. Johnson is also Professor and Chair of the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.)

© Apraxia-KIDS℠ - A program of The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association (CASANA)
www.apraxia-kids.org

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Who is Qualified To Diagnosis Childhood Apraxia of Speech? - Apraxia Kids

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Speech-language pathologists are the professionals who diagnose and treat disorders of speech, language, and swallowing. Thus, the assessment and diagnosis of apraxia of speech, as well as all other speech sound disorders, are within the scope of professional responsibilities of SLPs. While other professionals, such as physicians, educators, occupational or physical therapists, may provide essential ...