Things I have learned about Apraxia

[Guest guest]

 

 

Here's a blog post I found on Twitter from one dad in Canada whose daughter

has apraxia.  It's so good!

 

Things I've Learned About Apraxia

 

While I am by now means an expert in Apraxia, I have certainly been learning a

great deal since my with it. Here are some of the things I have learned.

 

People have no clue what Apraxia is. I can understand that, I did not either

until my daughter was diagnosed with it. The problem is, after you explain it to

them, they still do not get it and say stupid things like, well she will grow

out of it, or she will get better. Next time someone tells you their child has

Apraxia, don’t try to make them feel better by saying things like that. Their

child will not get better, they will not grow out of it and it will be a long

hard road for them and their child. Their child will need a lot of speech

therapy for many years, and even then there is no telling whether or not the

child they love will be able to speak reasonably normal.

 

That some rules do not make sense. For example, my daughter was under the care

of a speech therapist with the local health district, when she started school

she could no longer be seen by the speech therapist that is part of the health

district. In this case that is alright because my daughter is in a special

school where she gets speech therapy twice a week for 20 minutes each time. The

average amount of time a student gets in the public school system is 15 minutes

a week with another student. My daughter is lucky, but when she moves into the

regular school system that will not be enough time. The rules of the school and

health district state that my daughter cannot be seen by a speech therapist in

the health care system if she is part of the school system. Children with

Apraxia need much more speech therapy than the school system can provide, their

rules are not helping children, they are harming.

 

Private speech therapy is expensive. While my daughter is getting more speech

therapy in her school than most, we have decided to hire a private speech

therapist. While she is expensive in the few sessions my daughter has had they

have been good. Progress is slow but my daughter has shown a willingness to work

with the new speech therapist and hopefully she can help my daughter learn how

to talk faster.

 

The Government can help. I know it shocked me as well to learn that the Federal

Government can actually help kids with Apraxia. While the rules of the local

health and school do not make sense and private speech therapy is expensive, the

Federal Government offers the Disability Tax Credit. Children with Apraxia

qualify for this tax credit and all you need is your speech therapist to fill

out the form and then you send it in. The money we are getting from the Federal

Government Disabilty Tax Credit is what is paying for the majority of the

private speech therapy. All the help I can get for my daughter the better.

 

It is challenging having a child with Apraxia. I wait for the day that my

daughter can tell me how she is feeling or say “I love you Daddyâ€. While she

can communicate in many ways and is smart we live in a world with verbal

communication is important and I just hope that my daughter will be able to be a

part of it.

 

http://leerobertson.com/things-i-have-learned-about-apraxia/