Ayla had noticeable signs of apraxia when she was very young. At about 9 months old, I told her doctor she wasn't babbling. The doctor said, she's fine, her sister probably talks for her. Again at 1 year, I raised the same concerns with the same response. At 18 months old, I insisted on at least a speech evaluation, which we were granted. The therapist that evaluated her didn't tell me at the time, but I saw in the report that was send to my home that they suspected apraxia. No education on the topic was given, no one ever talked to me about it, until I brought it up when she actually started speech therapy. When Ayla turned 2, we had another checkup and she still didn't have a single word. Again, her pediatrician didn't suggest apraxia, but we were sent for a battery of evaluations that took months to complete because he suspected autism, even though she had met all of her milestones on time or early...
While we were waiting on evaluations and results, I did some research and found an absolutely amazing program for children with apraxia at St. Rita's School for the Deaf. I called and scheduled a tour. When we visited, we knew it was the right place for her. In October of 2014, we finally got the official diagnosis of apraxia of speech. Now, Ayla is thriving, she has a vocabulary of over 100 words and it is growing every day. She signs what she cannot say. We have been fortunate in our journey for her to be diagnosed so early. Because childhood apraxia of speech is a motor planning disorder, it does not correct itself. It requires quite a bit of therapy because these children have to physically learn what comes naturally to most children.
