Tube Troubles. The Eustachian tube is a small passageway from your inner ear to the back of your nose, and plays an important part in the hearing process. Every time you swallow, yawn, or blow your nose, the Eustachian tube opens and allows air to pass from the middle of your ear to the back of your nose. This process equalizes the pressure in our ears, and prevents the eardrum from bulging in or out too much.
Oromotor dyspraxia, also called verbal apraxia or apraxia of speech: Makes it difficult to coordinate muscle movements needed to pronounce words. Kids with dyspraxia may have speech that is slurred and difficult to understand because theyâre unable to enunciate.
I have a 5 year old son who was diagnosed at the age of 3 with apraxia. Since then he has been diagnosed with PDD (I also have a son 7 years old with PDD..verbal). The school's speech therapist now says Michael has dyspraxia and not apraxia. I really do. The confusion between the difference in apraxia and dyspraxia is not uncommon. In fact, the literature as well as many professionals use these terms interchangeably. Often, the debate among professionals leads to the misuse or overuse of the terms.