To Cindy~~~about Apraxia

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

I feel the same way about the magic wand..It has been a tough road for us up

to now with Bj's speech. Bj was diagnosed with apraxia in 1st grade...I was

so mad that it took so long to figure out his speech problem. He started

school at 3 weeks old and has had speech since the beginning and no one ever

said that was what he had. I thought all the therapist in NY were good until

we moved here to NC. I wasn't happy about the move because of school for Bj

but after I found out that NC found out Bj's speech problem an NY didn't I

felt better about the move. The speech dept. here told us that as soon as Bj

hit puberty his speech would emerge and they were so right...All these years

it broke our hearts trying to understand him. There were many nights I cried

after I put him to bed. He often asks us why he can't talk like everybody

else, and he says he is " stupid " cause he can't talk right. All the kids

" normal kids " love him so much, he has so many friends, they are all so

patient with him when he talks and they treat him just like the other kids.

I try to be strong and handle it but there are those days I can't help but

cry. I know God gave him to us for a special reason and we are blessed to

have him in our lives, but, I wish at least since having the downs that one

thing would be ok with him like his speech. I must sound terrible for saying

that but I am sorry for that. The one most important thing in life---speech!

everyone needs. God blessed us with him 100% healthy but gave him the worst

speech problem.....JEZZZ...Oh well I guess it could be worse right?

What worked great with Bj was consent staying after him with repeating what

he says slowly. They work very hard with his articulation and vouls....Plus

what has helped out the most with him was as soon as he went into middle

school, they gave him a job in the school office dealing with the staff and

students so that helped with the speech dept.... I am sorry this has gotten

long but its so nice to know someone else has the same thing as BJ does...I

don't know of any other child here in NC that has Apraxia..

When you go for 's IEP and you get all the teachers together push for

as much speech as you can get for him..Plus you can hope puberty comes

soon...hehe....keep me informed and I will do the same.....

From one apraxia mom to another~~~~

Donna