Apraxia

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I know this sounds strange but I was wondering if there is some connection between Autism and Apraxia. I suspect my two year old has apraxia. It is a little early to know for sure but he does exhibit many characteristics. My undergrad was in speech pathology so I hope I can recognize at least some of the basics. He will be evaluated by early intervention services in a few months if he doesn't improve.

The reason why I ask about connection is that I know a few parents who have one or two children on the spectrum and another one with verbal apraxia and no autistic signs.

I am sure it's a coincidence, though.

If my other son does end up having it, I will be more worried for him than for Nate. Nate is proud of who he is. He has a good head on his shoulders and doesn't really care what others think.

I have no data to support this, but from my conversations I would say that they are often co-morbid.

That is what I was thinking. I looked it up on the Internet because the Internet is always correct, right? LOL. Seriously - I have noticed that it is sometimes co - morbid. Pretty interesting. I haven't noticed it happening too much. It's one of those situations where I know a few people in similar situations and I think - oh, connection. Even though I know there probably isn't a strong connection.

I pray that my other son doesn't have apraxia. I will just continue to enjoy him (and sometimes get annoyed due to him being two), teach him some sign language and get him evaluated about two months from now if I don't see a big change in his speech patterns. His receptive language is excellent. He amazes me.

My son with AS was originally diagnosed as Apraxic. When I first suspected something was up and brought him to a developmental ped. that is the diagnosis he gave him.

BUT he was never formally treated for Apraxia and now he won't stop talking, so that wasn't it. When he was little I suppose what looked like apraxia was that he didn't really have reliable words yet, but he would suddenly pop out some huge word like "turtle" and then never say it again. He also had some mouth issues...seemed to choke and gag easily, couldn't keep food/drink in his mouth, etc. His main sounds were "uh" or "ah!" and he lacked consonant sounds.

In retrospect I think all of those things were related to autism. When kids are that little it's just hard to tease out what comes from where.