Childhood Apraxia of Speech


I know a lot of people stress out about being a parent, and they even use that as an excuse to not have children. I will admit that being a parent is the most challenging thing I have ever done, but I have never particularly stressed out about being a parent. It is true, being a parent can be hard sometimes but being a parent is not hard because of the things I will do. It is hard because we all want the best for our children and when they suffer or something is wrong with them we suffer with them.

My three year old daughter has recently been diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech and it has been a trying thing to cope with. I want the best for my daughter and there are many unknowns about apraxia. We don’t know if she will be able to ever talk normally, will she be teased at school, will she fit in?

Searching the Internet for information on apraxia of speech is not particularly helpful. Many of the websites out there that talk about childhood apraxia tell stories of kids that have never learned how to talk normally, have been teased for much off their time at school and have run up huge speech therapy bills trying to help their children.

Those are not the answers and stories I want to hear about what might be the future for my daughter. Fortunately those are not the only stories I have heard, and the speech therapist and other people that I have meet whose kids have had apraxia have been encouraging. My daughter also has several things going for her. She is smart, she has some sounds and with practice is able to learn more. She is also one of the most stubborn people I have ever meet. When she puts her mind to do something there is nothing that will stop her.

Only time will tell if my daughter will be able to learn to speak properly, until then we practice, practice and practice. We are hopeful that we might be able to get her into a special program that will help her get as many hours as possible of speech therapy and practice as we can. The progress she has made already made is hopeful. Every week there are new sounds and words she is trying so hard to make and we encourage her to say them as much as we can. I know it is a long road ahead to help her.

I am sure I will talk more about this at some point, but if your child has apraxia of speech leave a comment and let me know what your experience has been for you and your child.

Categories: parenting   personal  
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