Any Mom's out there with their kid having Aphasia?

My daughters doctor thinks she has Aphasia. She is only 3 yrs old. In past few months she has taken quite a few steps back... I'm looking for support from other Mom's out there with children with this learning disability.
She had her ENT appt today. Her hearing is just fine, as well as her tongue and throat are okay.
I am just going with the flow of referals, onto a complete answer.
I hope there is a Mom out there that can have some more personal insite an input rather just reading stuff online.

Im having trouble with my son he's 2 and wont eat solid foods he's still only on stage 2 baby foods ugh and when he tries a solid he urps and throws up I can't find a doctor that can help me is this similar to wat your daughter has

No, it's not even close to what she has.
Have you tried to take your son to an Ear, Nose and Throat dr?
When I took my daughter to an ENT, they looked in her mouth to see about her tonsils and under her tounge. Maybe your son has a tonsil problem? The ENT can also give you a referal to another dr as well.

  Did they give her a scan or MRI of her brain?

I heard that aphasia is caused by brain damage. My mother has it due to a tumor in her brain.

Did this start suddenly? Or has she always showed signs of speech delay?

I'm sorry for all those questions. I know that when my son Jason was 3 they at first thought it was aphasia. He had learned 1-2 words then they were gone and he couldn't speak and understood very little speech. We realized that it was much more obvious at 3 since that age a child should know a few words and that he always had a delay it was just not as noticeable because of his age.

He has Dysphasia. I was told that the 2 at a young age can easily be mixed.

Quoting reality:" Im having trouble with my son he's 2 and wont eat solid foods he's still only on stage 2 baby foods ugh ... [snip!] ... and when he tries a solid he urps and throws up I can't find a doctor that can help me is this similar to wat your daughter has"

This sounds more like aphagia (trouble swallowing) verses aphasia (language disorder).

Quoting myr-a-myr:"   Did they give her a scan or MRI of her brain? I heard that aphasia is caused by brain damage. My ... [snip!] ... was just not as noticeable because of his age. He has Dysphasia. I was told that the 2 at a young age can easily be mixed. "

They did not do an MRI. Dysphasia and Aphasia I have read are the same thing. So are they not the same?
She was saying words early, like perfect before 2 yr, and at 2 1/2 she was saying delicious. Then she stopped saying those words. She used to call her cousin by her name (Ashley) but now calls her Owshi.
She also talks in mainly 2-3 word sentences. She will ask "fruit snacks, please mommy". You ask her to say "can i have, fruit snacks" and she jumbles the words and gets anxious and says the frist sentence again.
She talks in 3rd person a lot. I am not sure she understands the me, you, and i. She says "I did it". But when it comes to people buying her things she says "daddy like it for you". and i tell her "no hunny. daddy got it for you" or "daddy bought it for you".
There are some times that i have to ask her several times to repeat what she says 97% of the time i would say that i know what she is talking about. But there are some words i dont understand, and i have to tell her that i dont know what she is talking about. There are some family members that she is close with also that dont know what she is saying.
She has a hard time playing with kids. She has a hard time communicating with them. Cause they ask her how old she is, and she just looks at them with a blank stare. and will change the subject to "come on girl. Slide". The same thing happens when they ask what her name is... I ask and tell her the same questions everyday, hoping that one day, she is gonna say 3. or Haley or Haley Star. She knows her name, she says her name. but i dont think she understands.
She also used to love to go potty, mommy pee pee potty. and now she screams and cries at my place, stomps her feet and says she is angry, grump, and or mad. while folding crossing her arms. =( I ask why she is so mad, and she cant tell me why.
On the other hand, she does learn new words but still only talks in short sentances.
She also have problems with her behavior. Acting out, having to repeat things not to do every single day.
Does any of this sound familiar to you? Sorry for writting so much...

Quoting BlueJenn:" They did not do an MRI. Dysphasia and Aphasia I have read are the same thing. So are they not the same? ... [snip!] ... having to repeat things not to do every single day. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Sorry for writting so much... "

I just looked it up. Some sites do say that Aphasia and Dysphasia are the same! This is really odd to me because on all the sites in french for Québec or France they say the 2 are different. I've been told they are! I'll have a talk with his speech therapist next week. Same thing for his Dyspraxia. French sites say dyspraxia but North American/US sites call it something limb dysfunction... Now I'm confused  

The things you say do ring a loud bell and do resemble greatly what happens with my son. He started off with speech therapy at the age of 3. They waited that long and I had to fight to get it this early. He was not able to say 1 single word and his babble was very limited. I have also heard of other children using words then stopping. From there he went to an ENT, his hearing is also fine. Actually it is more sensitive then most. He has excellent hearing.

The next step we took was to see a neuro pedopsychologist when he just turned 4. I really hope they are called the same as I'm translating from french to english word for word. She was a psycholigist for children but specialized in verifying the cognitive levels of Jason and see if it's from a neurological aspect, a trouble with maturity or a global intellectual delay. She did some tests with games and pictures. 2 times a week for about 3 months. It took so long because Jason was not cooperating at first. It was too much for him.

The tests had three major checks she made. 1st there was verbal testing. Show me the red ball. Show me all the small balls except the yellow. Things like that. He was severely below the average cognitive levels of a child his age.

The next tests were non-verbal. Only pointing, showing examples herself before. Showing a picture with many colors and pointing to a random color in the room. His cognitive level was normal to a child his age. Not excellent but normal. That showed that it was not an Intellectual delay.

Then the next check was observation. She could clearly see that Jason tried to communicate as best he could. He would use his body language, facial expressions, look in the eye etc. That was a big thing for her into showing that it was not a lack of stimulation or maturity.

What she also noticed was that Jason would have frustration when trying for too long to communicate, that he did have this glazed look when you said sentences that were too long without pointing or using body language. That his attention span was very very short which is not uncommon with Dysphasia. Also that his energy levels were low compared to a child his age and that he clearly had motor skill difficulties in both fine and gross. He also showed signs of Sensory Processing dysfunction. Many kids with Dysphasia will also have Dyspraxia which is a neurological problem with balance, control of the limbs, posture, low muscle tone regardless of how big or strong a child may appear. Problems with senses, like hyper sensitivity to sound and textures and pain. Or hypo sensitivity with others. So she referred him to an Occupational Therapist. That also helped with the ADD.

I was told they don't know what causes it. I was worried it was because he had a difficult time when being born. The doctor pulled hard on the forceps, I had pushed for 2 1/2 hours, etc. I thought it could have been brain damage but they said that they doubted it since his non verbal cognitive is normal and either way it cannot be proven now because the brain would be completely healed of any injury.

So today Jason is followed by a speech therapist, Occupational Therapist, psychologist and physio. He is 7 today.

What I have come to understand is that the main part of his speech delay is due to auditory memory and interpreting speech. If I used sentences with too many words everything went blank. Too much for his brain. Like: Jason can you please get the blue glass on the counter? All the small words like you, the, on, please, etc need as much concentration as the main words of the sentence to understand what the task is. His brain can't separate the importance of the words and find the clues. Those small words usually come naturally and the brain registers and sets them aside quickly but not with dysphasia. So add that to the auditory memory problem...

If I say too many short sentences, he will only remember part of them. For example, Jason go to living room. Go behind couch. Pick up blanket. He will go to the living room and then look at me knowing it's about picking up something but can't figure out the rest or even remember.

There is also the part, and that is where it gets frustrating for him, where his brain knows what he wants or he is feeling. Clear as day in his mind for his needs. However the brain that has a hard time with understanding/expressing anything regarding speech, will not allow him to express it in a verbal way. The words come out scrambled, babbled, people don't understand what he's asking and he gets upset so that makes it even worse. It's like his need for expression or asking for help is trapped in his skull. It does drive a child nuts.

If he is able to come up with a way to express something, his attention to any other verbal interaction is not really registered. Like a defense mechanism so that he does not forget or gets confused with more speech from peers or adults. So someone will say "hi Jason, how are you? How old are you?" He looks at you but what you said was not registered as anything other then noise because inside his head he is looking at you and is waiting for silence while repeating what he wants to express over and over again to not forget how and once there is silence he will say, "I want to play outside". He will repeat what he can express many times in a row to make sure you understand. Like he thinks that everyone needs to learn this way.

He also cannot interpret what is important or what is not necessary in a conversation. A subject is long gone but he's been working on his reply for 10 minutes so when he's got it will say it. Anything that is said that he understands or anything that he sees and understands becomes automatically concrete and truth for him. Like if he hears "got your nose" and sees you "grab" it, he will really think that you have his nose. Or that sponge bob exists etc. The brain does not register sarcasm, hints, fantasy etc.


I don't know if I have expressed myself clearly about this but I hope it can help. The main thing is that after the ENT is cleared, your best team would be speech therapy, Occupational therapy if needed and Psychology. That;s always my winning team  

Best way right now for your little one is to use visual support for everything. Pictures body language etc. If you want her to start alphabet, use pictures of letters. If you want her speech to get better instead of putting an entire sentence as it should be just start with one aspect. Like when she is referring to the third person when saying something. Repeat the question but in the same amount of words or just by adding 1 extra word. Too much at once = shut down.

She says " (name) juice please?" Repeat "I want juice please?" Say the first 2 words a little louder and point to your chest. Then ask her to repeat it with the gesture. "I WANT juice please." I know the proper way should be "can I have juice please" but it can be worked on later. For now it's focusing on I and YOU.
" Mommy have cookie?" you repeat "YOU WANT cookie?" Then pointing in front of you. " (name) play outside" say "I play outside" again pointing to your chest. Instead of saying " I am playing outside" Verbs can be worked on later.

After a while and if she starts getting it then you work on negation. Say there is a blue car and a red car. "Get the blue car" instead start going "Do NOT get the red car" Easy steps like that. I'm sure the speech therapist will show you all of this. It really takes baby steps but the baby steps are what sticks and where I have found the most progress. After say 10 baby steps you can see the progress clearly.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions. I know how scary and confusing it is. Wishing you the best.  

I really appreciate all that you wrote about you son. Sounds so much like my daughter in many ways.
Now that your son is 7, has he gotten to an average level for his age with the speech therapy?

She is super active, ADD also runs in our family history. She goes and goes all day long, she hasnt taken naps since she was about 1 1/2. She does fall all the time, trips, balance issues too.
I am worried as well about the child birth. I was put on pitocin since my water broke, I wasnt progressing, and my contractions where one on top of another, so bad that it put her into destress. I had an emergency c-section. At some point she pooped inside me (gross i know), but that was making us both sick, which is why she was destressing. She was taken from the recovery room right into the NICU. I was starting to think that maybe something along the lines of maybe the pitocin or the drugs they were giving me while i had a long waiting period to get an epi had effected her.
She does cover her ears and eyes some times as well. I never thought that it would be a sensory over load though. We live by an air plane field. So we see lots of air planes which she loves. but some are too loud for her at a park, which is even closer to the field. She hates warm water. She would rather wash her hands in cold water. She is starting to get OCD, in my eyes, cause she wants to non stop wash her hands. She will wash them 4-5 times in a row, If i am going potty.
Her dad lives seperate from us (but close by), but her aunt lives with us (but she is away on business for most of the week), so I am almost always with her.
She knows all of the alphabet letters, singing the alphabet is a bit of a struggle though.
On wed she has an appt for an evaluation with a speech therapist. The only thing is, is that she said that it is a long waiting list.
I have also contacted the school district for special needs pre school, which they said they said they might be able to get her in earlier then the therapy.
I would love for her to be in both. My fingers are crossed. Cause she has to be accepted into the preschool.
I will def start using the information that you have givin me. I am so glad that there is another mother out there that is going/has gone though this as well. Thank you so very much!!

Quoting BlueJenn:" I really appreciate all that you wrote about you son. Sounds so much like my daughter in many ways. ... [snip!] ... me. I am so glad that there is another mother out there that is going/has gone though this as well. Thank you so very much!!"

It's my pleasure!

Today Jason is 7 and is considered moderate to mild with his expressive speech but I'm thinking mostly due to the dyspraxia versus dysphasia, He has low muscle tone in his face and neck. He still drools and has a hard time articulating his words properly. For the interpretive he is still considered moderate when it is 1-2 3 word sentences, severe when it's more then that. It really does take a lot of concentration from him and his auditory memory incapability does not help at all. He is in first grade now. Not going too well and will have to take it again. I'm currently fighting to have him go to a specialized class for kids suffering from dysphasia. There are no more then 8 students with a teacher and speech therapist in charge for the class. It's very one on one and calm. His ADD kicks in full blast with a class of 30 who squirm or tick or make sounds around him.

A big thing with Dysphasia is a problem with generalizing knowledge. Like you tell him the Apple is red. Then you will say The truck is red. He will get confused because you already said the apple was red. Can't be there and on the truck at the same time. Or math...yeah...math lol. If you show him how to add 1+2=3. After you show him another one but because the numbers would be different it's like learning from scratch again. Everything is memorized not generalized.

He is a very very calm child though. Has always been. As a baby he barely fussed. As a toddler he could sit in his toys and be content. I would check on him because he was so quiet. The Odd things from him before 3 is 1- he had night terrors at night 2-3 times a night from the time he was 4 weeks old until 4 yrs old. A screaming fit for 20 minutes. A screetch of pure terror and trying to soothe him it was as if he didn't even know you were there. Still sleeping and couldn't wake up. 2- Very hard time latching and breast feeding. After a few minutes he would clearly be exhausted and his jaw would shake from trying. I started to bottle feed his after 3 weeks. 3- at 2 he would sit with his toys but not play with them. As if he didn't understand how they worked. He would chew on them like a baby but not play.

As a younger child he did seem to have behavior that resembled OCD or autism very much. Rituals, do the same thing over and over. The psychologist explained that those few things is what he was able to do on his own. Felt a need to do them to have a sense of control over his day. Most young kids with Dysphasia will have that kind of behavior. From what I've been told.

When you mean tripping? As in loosing balance? Or tripping on her feet? Like not lifting them properly, feet turned inwards, walking on her tippy toes all the time? Jason had and still has that.

What really gives me hope and I'm telling you so you can have some too. My husband's cousin has Dysphasia and dyspraxia also. He went to elementary and childhood and it was hell learning. His parents pushed for him to work at it. He is now 18 and it does not show one bit. His mom said that towards the late teens and adulthood their brains learns how to function with the disability. He learned his tricks like colored markers, pictures etc. He knows how to calm himself and speaks very clearly and with a very good vocabulary today. He learned how to work with it instead of against it. He is 18 and still in grade 9 but is doing well and is doing summer school to catch up faster. He's already picked out college and university. He's going to be a speech therapist! I thought that is going to be one amazing ST! He will be able to relate.  

Tripping like walking up or down the stairs and tripping, She also trips just from walking and running.

Wow, that is really uplifting. Good for him for wanting to be a speech therapist!!

Quoting BlueJenn:" Tripping like walking up or down the stairs and tripping, She also trips just from walking and running. Wow, that is really uplifting. Good for him for wanting to be a speech therapist!!"

Can she climb up the stairs on foot after the other. Like one for each step? Or does she climb one then the other foot meets the first on the step?

That was a big sign for Jason. That and not being able to use a tricycle at 4. It s like he couldn t find the coordination to make the pedals work to move forward.

She mostly tries to climb up the stairs one for each step, but usually ends up putting an arm out to catch herself. Shes usually in a rush to get up the stairs cause her dad lives on the second floor. If i didnt hold her hand she prob would crab crawl up the stairs. Sometimes she also just wants to play on the stairs or shes mad cause she cant go play on the slide, so she will just let her legs go out.

She has a tricycle, but she likes to push around on her feet mostly. She some what has used the pettals to go forward and backward, but she only moves a few inches back and forth, that i have seen. Of couse we mostly have grass out back. Not sure if her Aunt has seen her use the pettals more than that.

She did have a speech therapist evaluation appt today. She is giving her a referral to see an OT (Occupational therapist) and a speech therapist.
Waiting for the offical report back from the evaluation, and where they say where she is at. She said Haley did have some delays but focusing on haley and her was a bit overwellming, when both were talking to me. So it will take a few days to get in the mail.

Quoting BlueJenn:" She mostly tries to climb up the stairs one for each step, but usually ends up putting an arm out to ... [snip!] ... focusing on haley and her was a bit overwellming, when both were talking to me. So it will take a few days to get in the mail."

That's awesome! Keep that report preciously. Not sure if it's the same in the states but where I'm from I need those to get my kids approved for Specialized education. Things are moving forward!  

Quoting myr-a-myr:" That's awesome! Keep that report preciously. Not sure if it's the same in the states but where I'm from I need those to get my kids approved for Specialized education. Things are moving forward!  "

Oh that's a good point, I didnt think about that. I was just thinking for my records, and for the preshool thing.
Thank you so much!! I am so glad you are on here and you saw my post!! You have def have helped me out so much!! Thank you!!  
I will def keep you posted.

Quoting BlueJenn:" Oh that's a good point, I didnt think about that. I was just thinking for my records, and for the preshool ... [snip!] ... glad you are on here and you saw my post!! You have def have helped me out so much!! Thank you!!   I will def keep you posted."

Awesome! And it's my pleasure. I know I was glad to find a mom (my hubby's aunt) who went through it before me lol.