We Have Answers!

One of the things we did while visiting Utah was visiting my husband’s therapist from his teens years. I will refer to her as P. She is an expert in special needs children and adults with her own program that focuses on retraining the brain to pay attention, absorb information, and keep that information. She has taught all around the world for years and has worked with many members of my husband’s side of the family. My husband’s grandfather told us to visit her and he would cover all costs to help the kids. The first step for me was to discuss a game plan with her.

She and I talked on the phone for about an hour while we were on our way to Utah. It was sort of a mutual interview- she was learning about me, my kids, and how much attention I pay to them. I was learning what her methods were to see if she would be a good fit for my kids. My husband warned her that I have lots of baggage thanks to failed counselors, therapists, mediators, and more from my childhood and teen years, and I would not take kindly to government involvement of any kind. She understood. The first question she asked me was, “What can I do to help your kids?” That was a difficult one to answer. I wasn’t really sure what she could do. I didn’t know what her styles and methods consisted of. I told her that. She changed the question to, “Tell me about your kids. We need to learn what their learning styles are.” Well, that was easy for me to answer. I told her how my daughter likely has apraxia. I described her speech patterns, the methods we do to help her exercise mentally, how we’re all trying to learn ASL on her behalf, her progress, how she constantly practices the way she says new words and phrases every day, and how she is an ambitious and eager learner. I told her she is not academically behind by any means- she just has the typical struggles associated with apraxia. Then we got to my son, who I described as intelligent, creative, curious, and in-tune with his sister’s needs, but likely is ADHD and possibly OCD. I described their learning styles, how Jade does well with books, worksheets, videos, and songs while Fox learns better with more hands-on experience and interaction, like in apps and games. We settled on a date for an evaluation and met her the day after Xmas.

She spent a long time evaluating the kids the best she could before we had to return home to Arizona. What was anticipated to be 45 minutes each turned out to be a 4-hour session, and that’s okay. We all learned from this experience. One of the things she told me was how she was thrilled to see that I was “spot-on” with these kids. Everything I described about them, including their anticipated diagnosis, was correct, and she confirmed Jade does have apraxia of speech. She told us she was not seeing any signs of Autism or Aspergers in either child. MTHFR was new to her, and I suspected as much because many people have no idea what it is, so she took down some notes to research after I gave a brief summary of what it was.

Another encouraging statement was that she was impressed with Jade’s will-power and determination (which I have bragged about since she was born). Apparently, many apraxia kids lose hope of ever speaking clearly- or at all- and they give up. Some just have it so severe that they can’t power through. Jade, however, will repeat everything you say the best she can. She will practice phrases and sentences because she wants to overcome this. As Miss Pat said, “Her determination is your biggest blessing.” She also told us that she found it interesting how while most kids will quickly learn info and soon forget, she is the opposite- she takes a couple of tries, and then she remembers forever. She is a fantastic learner. Another huge blessing. P told us that whatever we have been doing with her is working wonders because many kids with apraxia her age do not get that far. I will say now, the things that have helped her the most overtime are flashcards, Signing Time, and being around multiple loving adults constantly. She is getting constant stimulation from all of these.

So now, we will be doing weekly appointments via phone or video chat with her and the kids. She gave us many wonderful tools and tips to encourage their brain development, and we are taking them seriously. This session confirmed my hopes and faith that Jade will speak normally. My husband had an interesting experience the weekend before we left for Utah. He was walking around with Jade at a store after we had photos taken. A woman stopped him and asked, “Excuse me, does she have apraxia?” My husband told her yes, and she said to him, “I thought so. I had it until I was 14.” When we first met with my father-in-law, he expressed how amazed he was with her progress in her speech since he last saw us all in September 2016.

For any other parents of apraxia out there, please do not ever give up. Keep in mind, we have never been able to take her to a therapy session because of lack of insurance and no car. We are not doing anything as trained specialists. We are just working with what we can get our hands on. We did have to set up a GoFundMe a couple of years ago for the Signing Time collection because the entire set was $500. We had many wonderful friends and family members, even a few strangers, graciously donate to that cause, and that is another massive blessing. If you have any way of getting your hands on the collection, I highly recommend you do because they exercise speech and hand coordination. My kids absolutely adore them. If you can’t get the set, flash cards do help, and you can take sign language courses on YouTube for free. Practice handwriting and drawing with them. Those extra exercises, even little bits at a time, mean everything to kids with speech delay.

Please know, I am no expert. I just have a lot of personal experiences with different special needs family members. We are doing what we can based off what we have witnessed and learned. We are trying just like I know all of you are ❤ If you have access to therapy, that is wonderful, but keep in mind there are exercises you can do from home in addition to the sessions that will greatly benefit your child. Don’t give up.