Speaking to my son’

Mum keen to end ‘stigma’ over verbal dyspraxia

L I T T L E Lu ke Hut ton hasn’t had the easiest start in life.

When he was born prematurely in July 2015 he wasn’t breathing and it was only thanks to staff in the neonatal unit at Ninewells Hospital that the tiny tot from Monifieth survived.

Mum Ashley, 38, said after his troubled birth Luke continued to grow and develop well and it wasn’t until he was a year old that she started to worry about the development of his speech.

Ashley said: “I had lots of experiences with two older children of my own, along with nieces and nephews and friends’ children, and I just knew that Luke’s speech wasn’t developing at the rate I would have expected.

“He just wasn’t reaching the normal speech milestones that I would have expected at that age. The doctors can’t say whether or not it had anything to do with him not breathing at birth.”

As Luke grew and his speech did not progress, Ashley decided to research what was happening and also sought medical help.

She said: “I knew early on that something wasn’t right.

“It wasn’t just that Luke was slow in developing his speech, I was sure it was much more than that.

“He was reaching all the other milestones for his age, walking and climbing etc, but his speech just was not there.”

Ashley became convinced that her son was suffering from verbal dyspraxia – a speech disability caused by a neurological impairment.

She said: “Effectively it means Luke can’t form the proper sounds for the words he wants to say.

“When he was two, my midwife agreed with my concerns and I started taking Luke to a speech therapist.

“Luke was eventually diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia. Despite what some people try to say, it is not a speech delay and absolutely nothing to do with intelligence. It’s a disability.

“Imagine knowing exactly what you want to say but your mouth isn’t doing what it needs to in order to make the sounds required to produce intelligible speech.”

Ashley gave up her job as a beauty salon owner to concentrate on helping Luke with his speech.

She now also plans to train to become a speech therapist herself.

She said: “Luke has attended speech therapy since he was two. I understand 99% of what he says now, as do most who know him.

“It’s recently been highlighted to me that some people may assume that Luke’s lazy with his speech or that he hasn’t been read to enough, that his siblings have been talking for him or that he has a global learning disorder or autism.

“Not that there would be anything at all wrong with having those but the point is that when we hear a child of three, four or five who is difficult to understand, some people automatically make assumptions about the child or the parents.

“I’ve decided to speak out to end the stigma attached to this rare and not well-known condition.

“Strangers will talk to Luke and when they don’t understand his reply they get nervous and end the conversation abruptly.

“Kids who struggle with any language disorder need to be spoken to more than anyone.”