We have been in AVT since Jack has been 41/2 months. He received his CI at just under 2 years old and was bilateral implanted this past May. Jack's understanding has always been ahead of his verbal abilities and now we know why.
Jack was recently diagnosed with Verbal Apraxia. He has started seeing an Speech Pathologist that has worked with a lot of kids with Apraxia. She said she is impressed with what a good foundation Jack has and that is due to all the AV Therapy he has had over the years.
Jack has been to the speech pathologist only once and I have already notice a difference in a week. She gave us exercises to work on his "p" and now he is able to say the "p" and is even realizing when he switches it out with a "t" as he did before. I'm very excited that we have finally found the reason for all of Jack's struggles. I just wish we would have known sooner that this is what it actually has been all along.
We had been working with a Oral Motor Specialist since October and I think she has helped, but I really believe that this was not the main factor to him being unable to put things together. The Speech pathologist said that Jack has enough oral motor to make speech. I don't know if it has been all the work we have done since October, or if was never really a factor. He never had a eating issue and he was able to do tasks with his mouth when we asked. I really have felt like a piece of the puzzle has been missing and now it has been found.
I will keep you all up to date on Jack's progress.
