The biggest apraxia challenge: Graduation 2032
Day 21 of Apraxia Awareness Month is to discuss your biggest challenge.
I read the various posts and related to all of them. ALL of them. Unfortunately when your daughter has a laundry list of disabilities with apraxia being just one of them, yes, I could relate to everything.
“My son struggles with word finding.” Check
“My son struggles with anxiety.” Check
“My daughter struggles with attention.” Check
“My child has difficulty navigating social situations.” Check
“My child struggles with handwriting.” Check
“My child struggles in school.” Check
Literally the list goes on and I could check off almost everything else. I’m farther in this journey now though and though we continue to have new challenges, I had an epiphany about them.
The biggest challenge was realizing the very definition of challenge does not mean struggle.
No. The very definition means a contest, competition, or objection. And guess what? One can argue and overcome ALL of those things. If you follow my social media pages, then you know Ashlynn is having a stellar last couple of months. The girl with dyslexia who was more than two years behind in reading is testing on grade level. She just graduated occupational therapy after being in private OT for SIX years. At field day, the girl with dyspraxia and cerebral palsy wowed her classmates by killing it on the hippity hop ball station, and the girl with a language processing disorder and apraxia is just “one of the gang” according to her general education classroom teacher.
The biggest challenge was not just hoping, but holding firm my belief that Ashlynn could overcome them all.
Ashlynn just ended her third grade year and she is 9 1/2 years old. I have been through AT LEAST 8 IEP meetings. I have been brought to the edge of despair. I have watched my husband shed tears in front of strangers. I have looked around a room of literally EVERY discipline (speech, OT, PT, Special Education, general education, psychology, social work) and listen as they ALL described deficits in my daughter. I have sat, stone faced and quiet for fear that talking would reveal my anguish and diminish me to a weeping pile of sadness on the floor. I refused to be that person. I was probably rude at times, but I promise it was for self-preservation and to ensure my daughter never ONCE thought I didn’t believe in her.
As one who has been on this journey with Ashlynn, my biggest obstacle was in discovering no obstacle was ever too big.
Armed with this knowledge now (at least in this current space of happy that I’m in), I truly look at current and future obstacles and say, “Bring it. You have never met an opponent like us. You can try to break us, but you won’t. You can knock us down, but we’ll get up stronger.”
An SLP Mommy friend I know posted a video and said “Apraxia created one gritty little girl” referring to her resilient daughter. I couldn’t agree more. Apraxia was never our greatest obstacle. Believing we could overcome anything was, and we did it. I know there are more struggles, more obstacles, bigger mountains to climb but they don’t intimidate me anymore. Ashlynn has proven time, and time, and time again that no matter what life throws at her, if you have a positive attitude, perseverance, and HEART…no one and nothing can beat you.
Starting with one of my most popular posts “Lessons of a Tricycle” to “Lessons from a Bicycle” years later, success has always been waiting for us as along as we just keep pedaling. Just kept trying and never, ever, EVER give up.
This past weekend my niece graduated from college and Ashlynn wanted to try on her cap. We snapped a picture and all commented, “how cute!” But inside, I was silently smiling and thinking, “Another challenge? BRING IT 2032!”
Love,
Laura and Ashlynn
