I know I have posted before (a couple of times) and I am sorry for those who have heard this all before.
I have a (nearly) 3 year old little boy. He was evaluated through EI just over a month ago. His 'diagnosis' was Mixed Developmental Delay with his speech/language skills around the 18 month mark (receptive & expressive).
I have my suspisions of apraxia, sensory processing disorder and also autism spectrum disorder.
The biggest thing about his delays is his speech/language. Almost everything he says is a copy of something he heard before (this applies to short phrases). He will say some very simple 1-2 syllable words randomly and sometimes in context (dog if he sees a dog). He is inconsistent at best. He has horrible meltdowns when he can't tell us things.
Few examples:
1. My older DS started swimming lessons yesterday morning. I took along a big bowl, water and various things he could play with while brother was in the pool. (He loves water play!) So when it was time to go, I went and dumped the water out... He had a huge meltdown over it and would just say water & point where I poured it out. It took us 30 minutes to get him to the truck and he still wasn't happy. He will throw himself all around and down on the ground. He just kicks, screams & cries. I try my best to figure out what he needs/wants by asking him yes/no questions but he can't even respond to those when he gets upset.
2. We also had speech yesterday (3rd visit ever). The first 2 visits there I told the CCC-SLP lady that I he mostly would copy/imitate words/short phrases and that he really didn't talk otherwise. She apparently didn't care what I had to say since she actually told me (on 2nd visit) that she "had never had a child talk so much in just 2 sessions". My mouth almost hit the floor when she said this because he had not said anything new. Only copies of what she said or his regular copy speech. (I was almost ready to leave that SLP after this...)
So yesterday I went in with my apraxia 'checklist' and gave it to her and told her my concerns YET again. She did seem to listen and watch throughout the 30 min session but I still think she is just trying to brush it under the rug. I don't think they deal with/see many cases of apraxia in our rural little town. She did get to see for herself that he was in fact copying things and not making spontaneous speech.
3. He can say 'elephant' or more precisely 'eh-e-pha' but can't say something like ma-ma. He uses "da-da" for me, his dad & when he needs something he will call out "da-da" He doesn't call out "help" despite us teaching him this. He can say it fine if prompted from us first.
4. At his 2nd speech session, the SLP kept saying "uh oh, it's stuck" in reference to a frog toy that kept getting stuck. He brought that phrase home and that is almost all that he could/would say for the next 5 days. He would even do it in the same pitch & tone as her. It was like a parrot copying someone. Then after those 5 days of saying it everytime he got frustrated or wanted something - he just stopped. He used to say other words like purple but I haven't heard that (and others) in a long time.
5. He can recognize his ABCs and numbers by sight and say them but can't say them if you just ask him questions about them. As a matter of fact, he doesn't answer any questions we ask him except for some yes/no but this is inconsistent at best.
6. When we tell him "I Love You", he never says it back. He only makes the sound of a kiss but doesn't pucker his lips. He also can't/won't stick out his tongue on demand or kiss with his lips puckered on demand.
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So before this gets too long...
What do you all think? Does this sound like Apraxia? Is there anything else this could be that I don't know of? I am really trying my best to get his care providers to help me figure this out but I feel like noone is listening to me. I just want to help him find his little voice. Life for him can be quite difficult (like many of you experience as well).
Please someone help!
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