Is there a curriculum for teaching kids with Apraxia?
This question was posted by Amy:
My 9 year old son that was diagnosed with apraxia of speech at the age of 3. Many therapists and doctors later, a number of opinions have been expressed as to the cause of his speech/language, motor, social, maturity, and behavior problems. This summer we will begin to homeschool him. Do you recommend any language arts curriculums that are great for boys with verbal apraxia? He will be starting 4th grade level.
Have a sit-down conversation with his speech therapist.
As far as I know, there aren’t any curriculums that are DESIGNED for apraxia. An SLP can recommend something which will enhance what she is doing in therapy with your son. Often, the curriculum used by SLP’s ties very well with language arts curriculum you may be using at home to teach phonics, reading and spelling. Take advantage of your SLP as a resource. She will also appreciate the follow-through support at home.
Choosing homeschool curriculum is very much a personal decision.
What may work for my son may not work for yours. A method that I may LOVE may cause you and your son to have meltdowns and arguments. As far as language arts are concerned, there are some things to think about.
Is his speech articulation an issue?
If he is still struggling with the actual speaking part, then you may want to choose something which will give him the opportunity to work with words more verbally (but not to the point where it tires him too much.) If his speech is just so behind that it would be too much but his writing is fine, then focus more on something where he will be writing more, and you can bring along language development as he goes.
Reading comprehension can be an issue with apraxia.
Keep in mind that you are probably going to want to find something that will help develop that. – Is he motivated by goals and prizes? Check out BookAdventure.com. It is similar to the Accelerated Reader programs the schools use, but you do it at home (get yourself a teacher’s account first, then add your ‘class’– your child.) There are prizes for points earned on the reading quizzes. – Remedia Publications publishes curriculum for special education and speech therapy. HERE is their language arts catalog.
Evan-Moor’s Look, Listen & Speak curriculum is one which I used with D1 in the past. It is for ESL use, but also works perfectly for kids still developing their speech skills. According to them, “Provide English language learners with interactive oral language practice using the multimedia and print activities in Look, Listen, & Speak. This award-winning teacher resource uses theme-based lessons rich in survival language to build vocabulary, language patterns, and student confidence.” For grades 1-3 but could be used later I’m sure.
If he likes to learn things by songs or chants, then Shurley English may be a great fit for you. They are all grade-leveled, K-8th. We loved all the grammar and skipped some of the writing. There is no reading comprehension included with this.
Learning Language Arts Through Literature takes a big picture approach. They use passages (or entire books) of classic literature to teach spelling, grammar, writing mechanics, comprehension, vocabulary, and much more. It covers 1st grade through high school and is very popular.
