Yesterday Joshua had his speech evaluation at Children's. He did very well, his articulation is coming along and she said most of the errors are just 'clean up' at this point. The one thing he needed to work on was his concepts, especially the more advanced. He gets in and out or up and down but little trouble with front, middle, before and after etc. He was very hyper during the testing... I foresee ADHD in his future... However his attention is not lacking, it's just the hyperness. It's like he needs the movement and distraction to stay on task, it's like he's self medicating with the hyper movements???
She sent him over to the hospital clinics building for a quick hearing test. He's not had his hearing tested since he was an infant. He passed just fine though was difficult to get on task and keep there after 2hours of speech evaluation!
Before we left the speech evaluation I brought up (APD). So many people seem to be getting that diagnosis but it's never been mentioned for my kids while they seem to fit the description very well.
According to the speech pathologist who was doing Josh's testing, APD is being misused 95% of the time! First off there are two APD's. APD is auditory as in hearing. It's when the physical function of the ear is not working properly. More like a hearing issue though NOT deaf in any way shape or form. That is the 5% of the correct diagnoses of APD. The other 95%, the misused ones, are apd (lower case) and it's NOT AUDITORY ISSUES it's issues with the child's inability to interpret speech because there is a speech and language developmental delay. My kids all fit the bill because of their speech delay, they have issues with bringing in all the info to their brain, interpreting it and using it properly whether it's following directions or answering or reacting appropriately. It is a SPEECH issue and is treated with speech therapy and totally workable just like any other speech kid.
Total sigh of relief there. Here I'm thinking that my kids are screwed with this speech thing plus an auditory issue that's different from being deaf and well they're just doomed for ever.... so NOT the case :) So anyone with a kid with APD diagnosis, it's more likely than not that all that means is your child has a speech/language delay and will need speech therapy PERIOD. Not the end of the world by any stretch :) Wonderful news YAY!!!!
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