Little Valley Jamboree recipients receive support

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Published on Friday, September 15, 2017

John Drinkwater
The Neepawa Banner

Four year old Dawson Richards lives with his parents, Alyse and Andrew and his sister Georgia in Minnedosa. In February of 2015, at 19 months, he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. A supportive team of therapists works with him, including a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist and child development worker. At this point, Dawson does not have any speech. He has not responded to sign language, however a Picture Communication System using pictures of familiar items is being implemented.

Photos by John Drinkwater

Five year old Alexis Andreychuk lives with her parents, Ryan and Toni and her brother Noah in Erickson. She was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) also known as Verbal Dyspraxia. Apraxia is a motor planning disorder of speech where her brain and mouth work fine, but the connection between the two when forming the simplest of speech patterns are lost. Alexis is benefitting from a type of speech therapy known as PROMPT therapy, which uses specific techniques to aid or prompt the mouth and its structures to articulate speech patterns. The nearest specially trained therapist operates in Saskatchewan.