Tanner's tommorow

[Guest guest]

Today Tanner and I were sitting on the dock and he said to me " Sometimes at

school I have trouble saying the word tomorrow. I don't know why but I just

can't say it right. So instead I'll just say the day of the week -like if it's

Tuesday I'll say Wednesday "

So I said " Well that's a good strategy Tanner! But why don't just try to say

tomorrow as a 3 word sentence? " So I said can you say " One more oh " (and he

said it)

Then I said

What about " Three more oh " " Four more oh " " Five more oh " and Tanner repeated

each one perfect and then on his own continued on with " six more oh " " seven more

oh " " eight more oh " etc.

So I then said " One more oh " again -and then " two more oh " and he said tomorrow

perfect!

Then I tried it a different way as he just learned the new strategy -

" Yesterday, today... " and he said " Tomorrow "

He said " But what about when I'm at school if I can't do it? " And I said -just

keep doing what you are doing! But I'm sure you'll be able to do it if you try

this new trick and think of it as 3 words instead. So a few more times Tanner

practiced saying " tomorrow " and if you listened closely you'd hear he was saying

" Two more oh " If anything he said the word clearer than most people!

Just thought I'd share how apraxia affects Tanner today who is 12 years old even

though he is clearly speaking now. It's not just a childhood condition but a

strange aspect to his speech that creates glitches here and there. Fortunately

he's learned to overcome most. Tanner sometimes get caught up on a word or two

-but the exact same strategies that worked for him as a little one still work

today! (sometimes as a mom I just have to remind him of one or two of them)

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